DCFS-ANNUAL RPTS-YOUTH IN CARE

Amends the Children and Family Services Act. In provisions requiring the Department of Children and Family Services to submit annual reports to the General Assembly concerning youth in care who are awaiting placement or psychiatric hospitalization (rather than placement), provides that the reports are to be submitted no later than December 31 of each year (rather than on December 31 of each year through December 31, 2023). Requires the reports to be posted on the Department's website and to include specified information, including: (i) the number of youth in care placed in out-of-state residential treatment facilities, whether each youth was referred to any in-state programs for placement and, if so, the number of in-state referrals for each youth prior to referring the youth to out-of-state programs; (ii) the number of youth not in the temporary custody or guardianship of the Department who are the subjects of open child protection cases, intact family cases, or any other types of child welfare case, including, but not limited to, those youth for whom the Department is required to make medical assistance payments because they were hospitalized in inpatient psychiatric hospitals or units and were beyond medical necessity during the Department's involvement with the case; and (iii) the number of youth in care who remain in emergency rooms for longer than 24 hours waiting for admission to a psychiatric hospital bed. Effective immediately.