With thousands of children entering foster care in Illinois every year, and the low ranking permanency in Illinois, the problems Let It Be Us are trying to solve are significant.

Permanency means a child is connected: to a stable, loving home, whether foster, adoptive or biological, to her siblings, to her culture, her school, her community. Let It Be Us wants not just safety, but these connections for all children in care.

Let It Be Us provides collaborative, innovative solutions of effective recruitment and placement for children in Illinois foster and adoptive care.  

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.

The Adoption Listing Service of Illinois, operated by Let It Be Us, connects prospective adoptive families with children in the Illinois foster care system who are waiting for a permanent home. If you’re wondering how to adopt a child or teen in Illinois, this is a critical place to begin.

Let It Be Us collaborates with the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services on the Adoption Listing Service.

This program supports:

• Licensed foster parents interested in adoption

• Families pursuing adoption through foster care in Illinois

• Child welfare professionals seeking broader exposure for waiting children

The Adoption Listing Service provides:

• A centralized, statewide listing of children waiting for adoptive families, the Heart Gallery of Illinois

• Education and guidance for families navigating adoption from foster care

By removing agency silos, the Adoption Listing Service helps ensure that children in Illinois foster care are seen by more families and matched more quickly with permanent homes.

Let It Be Us leads statewide foster home recruitment in Illinois, partnering with licensed child welfare agencies to recruit and support families willing to provide care for children with a wide range of needs.

We recruit and support:

• Traditional foster homes

• Specialized foster homes

• Therapeutic foster homes

• Emergency foster care homes

Our foster home recruitment efforts are designed to meet the urgent and evolving needs of children in care — including sibling groups, teens, children with medical or behavioral needs, and youth requiring short-term emergency placements.

Let It Be Us works collaboratively with multiple licensed foster care agencies across Illinois to:

• Expand the pool of qualified foster parents

• Support agency-specific recruitment needs

We are actively open to partnering with additional child welfare agencies seeking support with foster home recruitment.

Let It Be Us also operates placement referral and support services that help licensed foster homes connect with children across agencies when appropriate and in the child’s best interest.

Because foster homes are often only visible within the agency that licensed them, our Placement Referral program helps:

• Increase placement options for children with complex needs

• Reduce unnecessary moves

• Improve permanency outcomes

• Support agencies during placement shortages or emergencies

Let It Be Us is committed to equity, inclusion, and belonging in foster care and adoption. We welcome and support families of all:

• Races and ethnicities

• Religions

• Sexual orientations

• Gender identities

• Family structures

We believe that every child deserves a family where they are fully seen, valued, and affirmed.

Let It Be Us is proud to be recognized by the Human Rights Campaign’s All Children All Families program for our commitment to inclusive child welfare practices.