Gov. Pat Quinn successfully worked with state lawmakers to route emergency funding toward child-care providers for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30. But the governor secured the votes needed by extending the wait period for low-income parents to get cash payments from the state.
Also, Quinn’s proposed budget for next fiscal year, which the state legislature is supposed to pass a version of by next week, would make almost $85 million in permanent cuts to child-care providers. This is much to the chagrin of child-care providers who just got done lobbying for the emergency funding. Read more »
Thousands of 
The following is an op-ed from Celeste Meiffren, field director with 
In light of Mother’s Day, some women's rights advocates say recent cuts to state-run programs and too many anti-family policies are damaging the economic security for Illinois mothers and their children. 
With about 60 state-run facilities potentially on the chopping block,
including 24 Department of Health and Human Services offices and three
Department of Children and Family Support Service offices, a new report
warns that 
