Let It Be Us Awarded Illinois Adoption Listing Service Contract by Illinois DCFS
- Latest News
- April 1, 2025
Let It Be Us, a leading nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of children in foster care through recruitment of foster and adoptive parents and innovative placement solutions, has been awarded the contract to manage the official Illinois Adoption Listing Service by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). This designation solidifies Let It Be Us as the primary resource for connecting waiting children with adoptive families across the state.
“We are honored to take on this critical role in Illinois’ child welfare system,” said Dr. Susan McConnell, Executive Director of Let It Be Us. “Our mission has always been to create innovative solutions to support foster care and adoption and the future for waiting children. Managing the Adoption Listing Service of Illinois and The Heart Gallery of Illinois allows us to directly impact the lives of children and teens in need of permanency.”
As the newly appointed administrator of the Illinois Adoption Listing Service, Let It Be Us will take immediate steps to enhance the visibility and accessibility of children available for adoption. The first phase of implementation will include:
- Developing an Enhanced Online Adoption Exchange – A user-friendly platform where families can explore profiles of waiting children and submit inquiries directly.
- Increasing Recruitment & Outreach Efforts – Hosting virtual and in-person adoption recruitment events to engage prospective adoptive parents.
- Streamlining Family Matching Processes – Utilizing data-driven tools and caseworker collaboration to ensure better matches between children and families.
- Providing Additional Training & Support – Offering resources to caseworkers and families to improve understanding of the adoption through foster care process..
Let It Be Us brings over a decade of expertise in foster care and adoption recruitment, matching and placement, as well as advocacy, to this initiative. The organization is committed to ensuring every waiting child in Illinois has the opportunity to find a loving, permanent family.
Let It Be Us has hired a complete staff to manage the work needed to accomplish the goals of the Adoption Listing Service of Illinois which will be led by Lindsay Weinberg Perlmutter, JD, LCSW. Lindsay has extensive experience within the child welfare system, including work with the Adoption Center of Illinois, DCFS Post Adoption and Subsidized Guardianship, CASA of Cook County, and the University of Chicago Law School.
For prospective adoptive parents, click here to learn more about the Adoption Listing Service of Illinois and how you can become a registered family, or how you can begin the process of obtaining your foster care license.
For caseworkers, click here to learn more about the Adoption Listing Service of Illinois and how to register youth for adoption services.
For more information about Let It Be Us and the Illinois Adoption Listing Service, visit www.letitbeus.org or contact Dr. Susan A. McConnell at susanmcconnell@letitbeus.org or 847-528-2044.
About Let It Be Us:
Let It Be Us is a nonprofit organization dedicated to recruitment, matching and placement within foster care and adoption across the State of Illinois. Through innovative programming and strategic partnerships, Let It Be Us aims to improve outcomes for children in the child welfare system. Learn more at www.letitbeus.org.
Dr. Susan A. McConnell is the Founder and Executive Director of Let It Be Us, an Illinois licensed child welfare agency with the mission of providing collaborative, innovative solutions of effective recruitment and placement within Illinois foster care and adoption. Susan has an MBA from DePaul University and a Doctorate Degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California, where her work focused on permanency within child welfare. She is the Chair of the Permanency Committee of the Illinois Statewide Foster Care Advisory Council, appointed by the Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in 2017. She is also an adoptive parent with over 30 years of open adoption experience. She can be reached at susanmcconnell@letitbeus.org.
Let It Be Us is an Illinois 501(c)3 and licensed child welfare agency. The mission of Let It Be Us is to provide collaborative, innovative solutions of effective recruitment and placement within Illinois foster care and adoption. The Let It Be Us platform manages the Adoption Listing Service of Illinois and the Heart Gallery of Illinois, engines of success for Illinois foster care adoptions. The Let It Be Us vision is for all children in the Illinois child welfare system to achieve educational equity, employment equity, and overall well being through the incorporation of Let It Be Us Programming into statewide advancements in foster care and adoption recruitment and placement. For more information about Let It Be Us, visit www.letitbeus.org.
