Consolidated, 'compassionate' services pledged for new Illinois Department of Early Childhood

Illinois' governor has signed a law creating a separate Department of Early Childhood that he says will make it easier on families to get needed services for the state’s youngest residents. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the law in Chicago. Its creation comes after five years of study that started with a commission and determined that Illinois families faced a Byzantine bulwark in trying to obtain services often ensconced in disparate agencies: the State Board of Education and the departments of Human Services and Healthcare and Family Services. Illinois becomes the fourth state in the nation to devote an executive branch agency to early development, according to the Education Commission of the States. The department is set for launch in 2026.