Illinois DCFS Proud

June marks the official start of summer. School is out, pools are open and BBQs and picnics take over the weekends. It’s also a time to celebrate the vibrant diversity and resilient spirit of the LGBTQI community. As streets are adorned in colorful flags and decorations, we pause to remember that this global celebration began in 1970, a year after a police raid at gay bar in Stonewall Inn in New York.

In 1999, President Clinton proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. Seventeen years later, in June of 2016, President Obama designated the Stonewall Inn as the first national monument honoring LGBTQ rights.

In 2003, Illinois DCFS became the first child welfare agency in the country to develop an LGBTQI youth service policy. Enhanced procedures were adopted in 2017 to mandate annual LGBTQI training for anyone involved with LGBTQI children and youth in care. DCFS stands with our LGBTQI youth in care to ensure that they have the legal right to be free from verbal, emotional and physical harassment in their placements, schools and communities. Moreover, the adults who are involved in their care have a legal and ethical obligation to ensure that they are safe and protected.

The youth in our care are at the heart of every decision we make, and we are deeply committed to giving every youth an opportunity to provide feedback on service delivery, programs and policies that directly affect them. Our Statewide Youth Advisory Board (YAB) provides an outlet for current and former youth in care aged 14-21 to share their perspective and experience with DCFS leadership at monthly meetings held across the state. As an extension of the YAB, in 2021 the department launched the LGBTQI Affinity Group (YAAG) for youth in care to identify the greatest issues and challenges they face related to racial and gender bias, disparity and equity; offer their recommendations for system improvements that promote diversity, equity and inclusion; and collaborate with diversity, equity and inclusion professionals and the DCFS team to improve services, programs, policies and the experiences of all youth in care.

To further our mission of ensuring safe, loving homes for our youth, each of our more than 3,500 team members are required to take diversity training as well as LGBTQI and Equity and Inclusion Training. Our Resource and Recruitment team is always looking for foster parents who will love, accept and be allies for our LGBTQI youth. Our Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion continues to develop new partnerships with the private sector to expand our services to support LGBTQI youth and provide additional group homes and transitional living programs, like Lawrence Hall, the first in the state to provide space for 17–20-year-olds by providing them with affirming services as they transition to adulthood. Contact them at 312-814-8741 to learn more.

It is our responsibility to support all youth on their journey of realizing their true selves by focusing on acceptance and respecting the child’s privacy; using the child’s chosen names and pronouns; facilitating access to gender affirming services; prioritizing permanency and ensuring youth are living in safe, affirming and loving homes, not just during Pride Month, but each and every day.

Daniel Fitzgerald is the EEO officer/chief diversity officer with the DCFS Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Marla E. Courts is the statewide chief of LGBTQI affairs with the DCFS Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.