State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka says the state legislature will need to come up with more than $1 billion in order to keep state agencies going though June 30.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has reversed
its planned layoff of 300 employees, because DCFS Director Richard
Calica believes the agency will get more funding during the Illinois
General Assembly's fall veto session in November, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to close seven state corrections and juvenile
justice facilities, including Tamms super max prison, is in serious
jeopardy after Circuit Court Judge Charles Cavaness sided with AFSCME
yesterday and issued an injunction to stop the shut downs.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services postponed 375
layoffs that the agency was scheduled to make this week, citing a delay
in the administrative process. But cutbacks at DCFS are well under way.
As the days draw closer to October 1, when about 375 state
social workers will be laid off, a group of more than 350 angry Illinois
Department of Child and Family Service (DCFS) employees showed up at Gov. Pat
Quinn’s Chicago office Tuesday afternoon to decry recent budget cuts.
Those
cuts, the workers argue, will lead not only to the aforementioned job
losses, but will harm the children and families who rely on the services
provided by those state workers.
The state budget passed by the Illinois General Assembly cuts many
services for low-income children. For example, cuts in early childhood
education could keep thousands of kids from getting a pre-kindergarten
education.
Gov. Pat Quinn has yet to sign these cuts into law. The only budget legislation the governor has signed
so far is a package of Medicaid bills that cuts the health care program
and raises the cigarette tax. This gives social service providers hope
that cuts will be averted, but also makes it confusing what money they
will have to work with. Read more »
The caseloads
for child protection investigators at the Illinois Department of
Children and Family Services are so high that they may violate a 1991
federal consent decree.
As the days draw closer to October 1, when about 375 state
social workers will be laid off, a group of more than 350 angry Illinois
Department of Child and Family Service (DCFS) employees showed up at Gov. Pat
Quinn’s Chicago office Tuesday afternoon to decry recent budget cuts. 
The state budget passed by the Illinois General Assembly cuts many
services for low-income children. For example, cuts in early childhood
education could keep thousands of kids from getting a pre-kindergarten
education.