Family Forum / Parenting / Adoption / August 2004

http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/082704/new_20040828001.shtml

State targets adoption center

By Kurt Erickson
kerickson@springnet1.com

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SPRINGFIELD -- An adoption research center at Illinois State University may
close its doors Tuesday because of state budget cuts.
The Blagojevich administration quietly moved to shut the Center for Adoption
Studies earlier this month as a way to save $480,000. ISU officials are working
to save the center, which has been on campus since 1998.

Six jobs are in limbo.

Money for the center comes out of the Department of Children and Family
Services budget, which was cut by $78 million as part of the budget agreement
approved in July.

"Seventy-eight million bucks is a lot of dough," DCFS spokeswoman Jill Manuel
said Thursday. Cutting funding to the ISU program was among many "tough
choices" that the agency has made in recent weeks, she added.

The center was formed in 1998 by DCFS to track and study children who had been
adopted from foster care.

At that time, however, the number of children in state-run, foster-care
programs was more than twice the 18,600 who are in the system today.

"The number of children we're responsible for is growing smaller," said Manuel.
"We have very few kids available for adoption. More kids are being serviced at
their homes."

Because of the decline, the adoption research center and other related programs
are ripe for cutting, Manuel said. To counter any loss of expert advice, Manuel
said DCFS is hiring an adoption specialist and may contract with other entities
if there is a need.

"We're pretty confident that we're not going to be without good information
about our kids," said Manuel.

ISU spokesman Jay Groves said the university is trying to salvage the center
and is in talks with other state officials. But, he said he doesn't know
whether the six employees would lose their jobs if those efforts fail.

"I don't want to speculate on that because I don't think the answer is fully
known," said Groves.

State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, said Thursday that the agency's
decision to cut the ISU program may be reviewed by lawmakers during the
November veto session.

Feigenholtz, who is an adoptee, said it is important for the state to know the
best ways to keep families intact after an adoption takes place.

"It doesn't end for adoptees when the judge seals the deal," said Feigenholtz.
"This is something we should definitely be investing in."

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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown