Speaking up for the kids

OF ALL minority groups, children have the least voice in their own affairs; their health, education and nutrition are not left to them, but to parents, teachers, legislators, the courts and myriad private and state social service agencies. People from all of these walks of life — as well as teenagers over 15 — will be attending the Illinois Conference on Children's Priorities for the '80's, to be held December 8-9 in Chicago. Their biggest concern will probably be tight budgets at the federal and state (not to mention parental) levels. Money to provide for the needs of children is becoming increasingly scarce. Indeed, the first task of the conference, according to Donna Simonson, executive director of the Illinois Commission on Children (which is acting as coordinator), may be to try to "preserve what already exists" in the way of social services to children, rather than to push for any expansion in those services.

The fact that this is to be statewide conference held in Chicago rather than a national conference held in Washington, D.C. reflects the Reagan administration's belief that states should assume more responsibilities for social programs. The administration cancelled the National White House Conference on Children, originally scheduled for this year, and returned to the states the $3 million Congress had appropriated — less some $700,000 which had already been spent. The money was allocated in proportion to the number of children under 21 in each state, with all states receiving a minimum of $25,000. Illinois' share was $74,694.

Illinois, California and Louisiana were the only states to hold conferences in preparation for the national conference. Simonson said, "And after all [the commission] did to be ready for the conference, naturally we were disappointed when it was cancelled. But since we had the money, Governor Thompson asked us to continue planning, only now for a statewide conference." As a result, the statewide conference in December will be the culmination of four regional conferences held in October and early November. At the regional conferences, delegates are to select their top 16 priorities for children from a list of more than 50 issues — among them juvenile justice, education and the role of the family — summarized in a 178-page report on Illinois children published by the commission after a previous statewide conference in 1980.

Asked why a national conference on children should be cancelled while a similar one on the aging is going on as scheduled, Simonson said, "That's fairly obvious. Children don't vote." She added that the commission had sent a letter to President Reagan "expressing its regret" at the cancellation.

The first national conference on children was called by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909, and one has been held every 10 years since. Direct results in Illinois of previous conferences, according to Simonson, are passage of one of the nation's first child abuse reporting acts, improvements in the Juvenile Court Act and establishment of the state Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).

Delegates to this year's conference may face even more difficult problems than in the past — among them, a cut of $4.1 million in DCFS foster care services, from $32.6 million in Gov. James R. Thompson's original budget to $28.5 million; a $2.1 million cut in day-care services; and phaseout of the Donated Funds Initiative Program, under which the state distributes federal funds to the tune of $3 to every $1 supplied by qualifying local social service agencies. Although one or more of the cuts could be overridden by the General Assembly, it is likely that with more and more families feeling the stress of hard times, there will be more children in need of day or foster care without a corresponding increase in funding.

Still, Simonson is confident that delegates to the conference, once they have selected the final 16 priorities, can be instrumental in heading off any retrenchment. "We'll watch appropriations, have legislation sponsored in our areas and publicize our concerns," she said. In addition, each delegate will be asked to sign a voluntary contract pledging to perform a certain task — anything from organizing a group of concerned parents to simply writing his or her legislator — to attract attention to the problems of children.

This grass-roots approach was planned from the beginning. Half the delegates to the regional conferences were selected on a first-come, first-serve basis, with the other half selected from applications. "We didn't want only teachers or professionals in the field," Simonson said. "We wanted the broadest possible cross-section — of opinion as well as geography."

A diversity of voices (one-third of the statewide conference delegates will be elected at the regional conferences, one-third selected by a statewide steering committee, and one-third by the governor) is essential, Simonson said. She believes there is a real danger that "basic services for children may not be around in 10 years if people fail to speak up for them."         John G. Martin

32 | November 1981 | Illinois Issues