Families who adopt children from foreign countries face many challenges. They are subject to intense scrutiny by the federal government to determine if they are fit parents. They face substantial costs for travel and adoption fees. Some may have turned to adoption because of stressful fertility issues.

In Illinois, they have faced another challenge: A state bureaucrat who must approve the adoption, even though they already have federal authorization.

A new law will get rid of this unnecessary, wasteful bureaucracy.

It also streamlines Illinois’ process for officially recording foreign adoptions, making adopted children U.S. citizens and giving parents the right to change their children’s names. To gain these benefits, children must be re-adopted in the U.S., and domestic adoption laws are governed by the states rather than the federal government.

“This law saves taxpayer money and makes it easier for children to find good homes,” said state Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), the law’s sponsor. “The adoption process is stressful enough without unneeded big-government bureaucracy.”

Senator Harmon used these slideshows at recent community meetings regarding the state budget. Contact his Oak Park office with any questions as work on the state budget continues.

This version is a quick overview of the budget situation:

Families who seek to adopt children from foreign countries face many challenges: They are subject to intense scrutiny by the federal government to determine if they are fit parents, they face substantial financial cost for travel and adoption fees, and they often turned to adoption because of stressful fertility issues.

In Illinois, they face another challenge: A state bureaucrat who must approve the adoption, even though they already have federal authorization.

A measure to get rid of this duplicative position passed the General Assembly today.

The proposed law also streamlines Illinois’ process for officially recording foreign adoptions, making adopted children U.S. citizens and giving parents the right to change their children’s names. To gain these benefits, children must be re-adopted in the U.S., and domestic adoption laws are governed by the states rather than the federal government.

“There are so many children in this world who need good homes,” said state Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), the measure’s sponsor. “We can reduce families’ stress and save the state money by getting rid of unneeded bureaucrats.”

A plan that could help Cook County cut costs and keep people out of jail has passed the General Assembly. It establishes a field drug testing program in the county, similar to those employed in all other counties in Illinois.

In 2010, Cook County released more than 5,000 defendants accused of drug-related crimes after determining there was no probable cause for their arrests. Each day these men and women sat in jail cost county taxpayers $143. It cost them and their families even more from lost time at work and the anguish of having a loved one in jail. Many of these offenders came from low-income families that could not afford to post bail.

“Field testing could save Cook County a ton of money and help keep people who don’t need to be in jail at their jobs and with their families,” said State Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), the measure’s sponsor. “We owe it to the taxpayers to see if this program, which is already used in the rest of the state, can work here.”

Three years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama that sentencing a minor to a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole was unconstitutional. Since then, the General Assembly has been working to update Illinois’ juvenile sentencing laws.

This week, it sent a plan to the governor that Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) negotiated between state’s attorneys, criminal justice reform groups and other stakeholders. It essentially gives judges more discretion when they hand down sentences for minors accused of serious crimes like murder and rape.

“The simple fact is that we needed to bring Illinois’ law in line with the court’s decision,” said Harmon. “It’s also the right thing for us to do, to permit judges to tailor juvenile sentences to fit the crime.”