Last updated: November 2002

(Chapter 3 Overview from Guidebook of Laws and Programs for People with Disabilities)

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Families often need financial support, medical assistance and other forms of assistance to help take care of their child or children with disabilities. They may be taking care of the child at home or the child may be receiving residential care. They may have a child with severe physical disabilities, or a severe developmental disability or mental illness. To provide support for these families, Illinois has adopted several programs of assistance, the legal aspects of which are described in this Chapter.

Section 1 describes the Family Assistance Program, administered by the Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Developmental Disabilities. That program pays a monthly stipend to families that provide care at home to certain children with severe mental disabilities, including severe autism, profound mental retardation, and severe emotional disturbance.

Section 2 explains Individual Care Grants for Mentally Ill Children. That program grants funding to families of children who have a mental or emotional disorder which substantially impairs thought, perception, judgment, behavior, or ability to cope. It pays for the costs of a private residential placement facility, when there is no appropriate care in state facilities. It is administered by the Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Mental Health.

Section 3 addresses the programs of specialized care and treatment for children with severe physical disabilities, administered by the Division of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC) of the University of Illinois. These programs provide evaluation, medical care, equipment and habilitative treatment for children with certain chronic physical disabilities. There also is a program of home services for such children. These programs are designed for children who have a chronic but treatable impairment who require long-term, highly specialized medical care. (The Department of Human Services also administers a Home Services Program that serves children with disabilities, as well as adults. For a description of that program, see the section of this Guidebook titled "The Home Services Program," in Chapter 11, Independent Living and Productivity.)

Section 4 discusses financial assistance to parents adopting children with disabilities. The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) provides on-going financial support, medical assistance and one-time adoption fees and costs to parents who adopt certain children with mental or physical disabilities. DCFS must have determined the child to have "special needs" and to have met other conditions.
 

Section 5 addresses early intervention services under the Early Intervention Services Systems Act. This is an Illinois law which creates a system to provide services to children under age 3 who have a developmental delay, who have a high probability of developmental delay or who are at risk of having a developmental delay. Such services, including therapy, counseling, and education are intended to assist the child in achieving the highest possible degree of development.

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