Families Safety Net
The Families Safety Net (FSN) Coalition is a statewide collaborative dedicated to strengthening families, preventing unnecessary child welfare involvement, and reducing racial disparities across Illinois. Bringing together community organizations, faith-based institutions, healthcare providers, educators, businesses, and government partners, FSN connects families with the resources they need before crises occur. The need for this work is urgent: FY2025 Illinois child welfare data show that Black children represent approximately 15.2% of the state's child population but account for 33.6% of children entering substitute care. In Cook County, Black children comprise 66.4% of children in foster care while representing only about 24% of the county's child population. Through prevention, collaboration, and equitable access to community-based services, FSN is committed to helping every Illinois family thrive in a safe, stable, and supportive environment.
The task at hand
For decades, research has documented the disproportionate representation of African American children and families in multiple public systems, including child welfare, special education, juvenile justice, and the criminal justice system. Disproportionality refers to the overrepresentation of a racial or cultural group within a system relative to its proportion of the general population.
The Families Safety Net (FSN) brings together community-based organizations, faith-based institutions, healthcare providers, schools, government agencies, businesses, and civic leaders to strengthen families before crises lead to unnecessary child welfare involvement. By coordinating resources and expanding access to services, the coalition helps families build stability while promoting child safety and well-being.
Our coalition works to:
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Prevent unnecessary family separation whenever it can be safely avoided.
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Connect families with local and statewide resources.
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Increase awareness and access to community-based services.
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Foster collaboration among public, private, nonprofit, healthcare, educational, and faith-based partners.
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Strengthen protective factors that promote safe, stable, and healthy families.
Who Can Participate in the FSN
Business Owners, Educators, Caregivers, Clergy and Parents all play a vital role in assisting the FSN in carrying out its mission. Communication and cooperation among these groups are essential to reducing the disparities. Families living in poverty have greater difficulty accessing basic services; bias or cultural distrust between child welfare decision makers and families is a contributing factor to removal; and African American children stay in care longer because of difficulty in recruiting adoptive parents
For Parents Who Need Assistance
Characteristics of our approach to serving families are caring, ongoing, effective, compassionate, experienced, and professional.
Some examples of the types of issues and support services the Safety Net is prepared to address include:
▪ Food, clothing or shelter
▪ Domestic violence or sexual abuse
▪ Immigration
▪ Crime
▪ Medical and mental health
▪ Counseling and therapy referrals
▪ Legal referrals
▪ Housing location assistance
▪ Employment and life-skills training
▪ Education for adults and children
▪ Childcare
▪ Parenting guidance
▪ Substance abuse
▪ Consumer protection
▪ Suicide prevention
▪ Child abuse and neglect
▪ Homelessness
▪ Disabilities and special education
▪ Conflict resolution/family mediation
▪ Ombudsman service – cutting bureaucratic red tape
Is your family struggling to stay together because of life’s many issues? The Safety Net can help you. For more information or to connect with services, please contact the Parent Information & Resource Center at PIRC@awofinc.org 872 216 7058.
