Click here for a chart of wards moved to permanency through adoption and guardianship, 1986-02. Click here to view the DCFS monthly Executive Statistical Summary featuring child protection, substitute care and caseload information. Click here to read an Innovations in American Government web site article about its award given to DCFS' performance contracting program. Click here to visit the Innovations in American Government web site. The DCFS performance contracting program is among 10 recipients of the prestigious Harvard Innovations in American Government Award in 2000.
Every child deserves a stable and lasting family life.
But it is only in the last few years that substantial progress has been made in bringing permanency to the lives of thousands of children who otherwise would have spent their childhood in foster care. Excellence Award program for dramatically improving the number of children moved into permanent homes. Illinois introduced Performance Contracting in 1997. Since then, the program has played a critical role in moving Illinois from one of the nation's lowest-performing child welfare systems in moving children to permanency to a national leader. That is one reason why the Department's Performance Contracting program was listed among 10 recipients of the prestigious Harvard Innovations in American Government Award in 2000.