'They deserve their story': Bill aims to open foster care files
[January 26, 2026]
By Cat Barker | The Center Square contributor
(The Center Square) – Illinois lawmakers are moving to ensure families
adopting children from the state’s foster care system receive complete
information about a child’s history, including medical, educational, and
counseling records, at least 30 days before an adoption is finalized.
The bill, recently introduced by state Sen. Darby Hills, R-Barrington
Hills, also guarantees former foster youth aged 18 and older can access
their records for free.
Hills’ legislation would require the Department of Healthcare and Family
Services to provide a complete, unredacted copy of the child’s full case
record, while maintaining compliance with federal and state privacy
laws.
Hills said the bill responds to concerns from adoptive parents who often
face significant barriers in understanding a child’s history after
adoption.
“We’ve had constituents tell us that they adopted children who never
lived with their biological parents and weren’t able to access
information about their time in foster care,” Hills explained.
One parent, Hills noted, adopted two of her three children from foster
care. While she could access details about the biological parents, she
had no information about the foster homes where her children had lived.
“Her children suffered trauma as a result of those living conditions,
and she wasn’t able to get the information she needed to help them
heal,” Hills said.
Under current practices, parents may receive some medical records, but
other key details, such as case worker notes, placement history, or
therapy records, are often inaccessible.
In some cases, parents have had to conduct their own research to uncover
critical information, including incidents of unsafe conditions in foster
homes.
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“The point is that these children deserve access to their own story,
and families deserve the information they need to help their
children heal,” Hills said.
The bill sets a timeline of at least 30 days before adoption is
finalized to give families adequate time to prepare. Hills
emphasized that the records already exist in case files and that
compiling them for adoptive families would not create significant
additional costs for taxpayers.
Asked whether the 30-day review period could deter adoptions, Hills
explained that most adoptive parents understand children from foster
care may have experienced trauma.
“They want to adopt them and give them a wonderful life, but they
can’t help them heal if they don’t know what happened to them,” she
said.
Hills also pointed to the emotional toll the lack of records can
take on adopted children.
She described one constituent who adopted her third child at birth
and has full memories and milestones for that child, while her two
older children adopted from foster care are left with unanswered
questions.
“They ask, ‘What was my first word?’ or ‘When did I walk?’” Hills
said.
While those details may not pose immediate safety risks, she
emphasized they are fundamental to a child’s identity.
“It’s their story and it’s their life,” Hills said, adding that the
information should already exist in state files and should be
accessible to the families raising them.
She said the timeline is open for discussion and was intentionally
included to encourage collaboration with DCFS and stakeholders,
noting that she consulted with agency representatives and affected
families before filing the bill.
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