Our Foster Care Placement Support Program works with caseworkers, investigators, court appointed special advocates, and licensed foster parents to connect licensed foster homes with waiting children and teens in foster care. Our Open Home Navigator Platform operates a proprietary database of licensed and open foster homes and also reach additional licensed and open foster homes through targeted digital marketing tools. By joining the Let It Be Us registry of licensed and open homes as well as following us on social media and via email, you will learn about agencies looking for licensed foster homes that meet the needs of children or teens the agency is trying to place. The Let It Be Us Placement Support Program:

• provide faster and stronger placements
• improves wellbeing
• improves permanency
• alleviates shelter capacity
• alleviates congregate care (group home) capacity
• alleviates strain on DCFS and agency staff 
  

On this page:

• Understand the child welfare system in Illinois
• Why Let It Be Us developed their database of licensed homes
• The reason the Let It Be Us Foster Care Placement Support Program exists
• How to join our Foster Care Support Program Registry
• Your next steps

The child welfare system in Illinois operates as a series of silos. The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) licenses homes but also subcontracts to private agencies to license other homes, meaning that foster homes may be licensed by DCFS or by a private agency.  Then when a child needs to be placed in a foster home, the caseworker may only know about the foster homes licensed by her agency.

What if there aren’t any foster homes licensed with that case worker’s agency who have space for the child at that moment?  What if the only foster homes licensed with that agency that have space for the child are three hours away? What if there isn’t a home licensed with the agency who can take all the siblings so they can stay together? These problems led Let It Be Us to become the bridge between agencies looking for a licensed foster home and the licensed foster homes waiting for a child regardless of which agency licensed the home and which agency is seeking to place the child.

Let It Be Us encourages licensed foster homes who have space in their homes for waiting children in Illinois to join our registry, particularly homes open to sibling sets, LGBTQIA+ youth, children with special needs or Spanish speaking children. Case workers call Let It Be Us in search of licensed foster homes that meet the needs of the children waiting for a new home.  Our experienced team searches for licensed foster homes, both in our registry and beyond, through our extensive social media and email following. With more options, the odds of being placed with a family are better for the waiting children of Illinois, and those children have a better chance of spending the night in a loving home rather than a shelter.

1.  Are you a licensed foster parent in Illinois?  If not, attend one of our webinars or speak to a coach!
2. If you are a licensed foster parent in Illinois, and you have the capacity in your home for a child (or children), then sign up to be included in our database. 
3. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and sign up for our newsletter to make sure you are the first to hear about children in Illinois who need a home.
4. If your home meets the needs of a waiting child, please submit the inquiry form and let us know you are interested in bringing that child into your home.
5. Be patient!  If the child’s caseworker thinks you are a good match for the child, you will be contacted.  Please reach out if you have any questions. 

• Complete the form to join our Foster Care Placement Program
• Sign-up to receive our weekly publication Wednesday’s Waiting Children, a roundup of the cases we are currently working on
• View Waiting Children of Illinois, the foster care children we are working on placing through our Foster Care Placement Program