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Volunteer Care
Before 1832, there were a number of families in Chicago that volunteered to care for orphaned children -
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Poorhouses
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Chicago Orphan Asylum
The asylum was originally built to care for children who had lost their parents due to the bubonic plague. Many of the men and women who died from the plague in Chicago were on their way to the west in search of gold. -
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Civil War
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Civil War Orphan's House
This orphanage provided help and welfare only to the children whom had parents who were honored veterans. The rest of the orphans were to be cared for by volunteer agencies and local government -
State Board of Commissioners of Public Charities
This charity was founded to help supervise and organize different welfare events. It collected facts about the living conditions on individuals who needed support to live such as children. -
Great Chicago Fire
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Inspection of childcare becomes legal
Public and private child care were finally able to be inspected in 1899 by the State Board of Commissioner of PUblic Charities. -
Juvenile Court Act
The Juvenile Court Act</a>In 1899 Illinois became the first state to pass a Juvenilie Court Act which set up basic child protection laws throughout the state. The Juvenile Court Act - https://homicide.northwestern.edu/docs_fk/homicide/laws/ill_juvenile_court_act_1899.pdf -
Department of Visitation
Now that there were children staying with foster familys, the state decided to set up the Department of Visitation in order to make sure that they were being well cared for. -
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World War I
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Annual inspection of homes
A new law passed in 1919 that required that each foster home be inspected annually. The homes had to be "licensed" in order for children to reside there. -
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State government takes over childcare
The people of Illinois began to realize that private agencies could no longer keep up with the needs of the children, so state functions began to work together to provide the best care for the children. -
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World War II
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Illinois Commission on Children
The goal of this group was to raise awareness of the limited resources the welfare service for children had and to encourage bills to be passed to fix the problem. -
DCFS
With the creation of Department of Children and Family Services, Illinois took the main responsibility of caring for foster children. They now provide very detailed and indepth services to foster children.
