“Parents shouldn’t have to make a choice between keeping their children and abandoning them to get them the mental health care they need.” - State Senator Julie Morrison

SPRINGFIELD – A new law should help end a disturbing trend: parents turning their children over to the Department of Children and Family Services because it is the only way the kids can get the mental health care they need.

Parents who make this heart-wrenching choice have usually already exhausted every other option. Their private insurance refuses to pay any more, but they make too much money to qualify for Medicaid.

The new law will give exhausted parents the ability to get state assistance without giving up their children to the foster care system.

“Parents shouldn’t have to make a choice between keeping their children and abandoning them to get them the mental health care they need,” said State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield), sponsor of the legislation.

It requires DCFS to work with the Department of Human Services, the State Board of Education and other relevant agencies to create a path for parents who have exhausted all other options to get their children mental health care through the state. The parents will have to have an income too high to be eligible for Medicaid and to have completely used up all funding provided by their private insurance.

This plan will not come at any additional cost to the state. Illinois is already spending money to treat these children. Instead, it will allow them to stay with their loving families rather than forcing them into state custody.

Now that the governor has signed the measure into law, it will take effect Jan. 1, 2015.