January 2022 - Just the Facts

Summary

Total cases receiving Public Assistance in Illinois climbed 152,140 cases (231,649 persons) in January 2022 from January 2021. Aided cases numbered 2,188,336 (3,525,321 persons) in December 2021, up 7.47% from year-earlier totals.

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)

  • Total TANF Benefits: There were 27,577 TANF cases (75,801 persons) in January 2022, down 128 cases and up 152 persons from December 2021. The caseload was 4.38% lower than the January 2021 total.
  • TANF-Basic: In January 2022, TANF-Basic (primarily single-parent) families decreased, from December 2021, by 195 cases (216 persons) for a total of 27,577 cases (75,801 persons).
  • Two-Parent Cases: Two-parent cases increased in January 2022 by 67 cases (368 persons) from December 2021 for a total of 1,610 cases (7,356 persons).
  • Approvals: There were 1,382 assistance approvals this month, including 840 new grants (down 80 since December 2021) and 243 reinstatements (down 9 since December 2021). A reinstatement is defined as approval of any case that was active within the previous 24 months.
  • TANF Cancelled due to earnings: In January 2022 there were 211 cases cancelled due to earnings from new employer or increased earnings from an existing employer.
  • Total Grant amount: $12,163,207 was the total in January 2022. This is $507,451 less than the total in December 2021. January 2022 shows a 4.07% decrease from January 2021.

Assistance to the Aged, Blind or Disabled (AABD)

The total number of AABD Cash cases in January 2022 was down 608 cases or -3.21% from the number of cases a year earlier.

  • AABD Case Details: AABD Cash cases decreased by 144 cases in January 2022 from December 2021 for a total of 18,329 cases. This total includes 8,822 persons who qualified for Old Age Assistance; 129 persons who qualified for Blind Assistance; and 9,378 persons who qualified for Disability Assistance. The total grant amount shows a 3.06% increase from December 2021 ($2,362,809) to January 2022 ($2,435,170).

Medical Assistance - No Grant (MANG)

January 2022 had a program total of 2,043,055 cases (3,295,933 persons). Of the total MANG cases, there were 77,038 cases (129,012 MANG persons) in All Kids, Disabled Workers, Breast and Cervical Cancer, Veteran Care, Medically Fragile Technology Dependent, and Department of Corrections programs. Overall, MANG cases in January 2022 show a 9.38% increase (175,171 cases) since January 2021.

  • MANG: MANG recipients represent 93.36% of total cases and 93.49% of total persons in January 2022.  In January 2021, MANG recipients represented 91.73% of total cases.
  • Family Health Plans: Families increased in January 2022 by 5,745 to 812,818 cases from totals in December 2021. Persons also increased 13,326 in January 2022 to 2,024,415 persons.
  • ACA Adult: ACA Adult saw an increase of 9,658 cases from December 2021 for a total of 858,126 cases in January 2022. Persons increased by 10,003 for a January 2022 total of 886,900 persons.
  • AABD Clients: AABD customers who were categorically qualified for Medical Only, increased .50% in January 2022 from December 2021 to 372,111 cases.
  • Foster Care: Foster Care Assistance totals were not available at the time of this report.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

  • SNAP Assistance was given to 1,059,449 Illinois households (1,965,546 persons) in January 2022. This is a decrease of 51,748 households from January 2021 levels.
  • A total of 99,3754 households (135,258 persons) received SNAP with no other assistance in January 2022. This is a decrease of 21,159 households from January 2021 levels.
  • The total SNAP assistance amount for January 2022 was $490,134,488. This is an increase of $55,969,559* from January 2021.

FISCAL YEAR 2022 SUMMARY OF CASES AND PERSONS AS OF JANUARY 2022

Program Cases Persons
TANF 27,277 75,801
AABD Cash 18,329 18,329
Family Health Plans 812,818 2,024,415
AABD MANG 372,111 384,618
ACA 858,126 886,900
SNAP with no other assistance 99,375 135,258
Foster Care N/A N/A
Refugees Cash & Medical 427 427
TOTAL 2,188,763 3,525,748

Child Care1  

Child Care Services are available to families with income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. Families must be working or enrolled in approved education or training activities. Families cost-share with co-payments based on income and family size. Services are delivered through a certificate program and a site-administered contract system.

  • The Certificate Program eligibility is determined by resource and referral agencies. Parents choose subsidized full or part-time care from any legal care provider that meets their needs. Providers include child-care centers, family homes, group child-care home and in-home and relative care. In December 2021, an estimated 93,526 children were served by certificate.
  • The Site-Administered Contract Program serves families through a statewide network of contracted licensed centers and family homes. Families apply for care directly with the contracted providers and eligibility is determined on-site by the provider. In December, an estimated 3,962 children were served by contract.
  • The Migrant Head Start Program provides childcare and health and social services for preschool children of migrant and seasonal farm workers. Services are provided by local community-based agencies. In December 2021, there were 179 children enrolled in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start.

Emergency Food, Shelter and Support

Homeless families and individuals receive food, shelter, and support services through local not-for-profit organizations. A "continuum of care" includes emergency and transitional housing and assistance in gaining self-sufficiency and permanent housing.

  • The Emergency and Transitional Housing Program served 2,115 households in shelters during the October through December 2021 Quarter. Of those, 346 were households with children.
  • The Emergency Food Program served 161,974 households (duplicative) in January 2022.
  • The Homeless Prevention Program helps families in existing homes and helps others secure affordable housing. During the October - December 2021 quarter, 1,372 households were served. Of those, 667 were families (Households with children under age 18).
  • The Supportive Housing Program funds governments and agencies which serve families and transitional facility residents. In the October - December 2021 quarter, 797,269 nights of Supportive Housing were provided.
  • The Refugee and Immigrant Citizenship Initiative funds the provision of English language, civics and U.S. history instruction as well as application services. This program has served 1,391 clients in January 2022.
  • Of the refugees served, 177 received employment services, and 41% of the clients entering employment were still employed 90 days later from October - December 2021.
  • The Outreach and Interpretation project assures access to IDHS benefits. This program has served 3,836 in January 2022.

Social Service Block Grants

Service funding is provided through the Federal Title XX Social Services Block Grant to manage and monitor contracts which help customers achieve economic self-support and prevent or remedy abuse and neglect.

  • Crisis Nurseries served 738 families/customers during the October-December 2021 quarter.
  • The Estimated Donated Funds Initiative aided 2,257 customers with 35,340 rides provided for Senior's during the October - December 2021 quarter.

Early Intervention (EI)1

The Illinois Early Intervention (EI) program serves infants and toddlers ages birth to 3 years old with developmental delays or disabilities and their family in one or more of the following areas of development: adaptive, cognitive, communication/speech, physical and social emotional. EI is part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part C for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities. Annually, the EI program serves approximately 23,000 children throughout the state and maintains 25 regional intake entities called Child and Family Connections (CFC) offices. CFCs handle referrals, intake and service coordination for infants and toddlers referred to EI and coordinates the eligibility determination process and manages eligible infants and toddlers with Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs)through transition.

Early Intervention services include, but are not limited to developmental evaluations and assessments, communication/speech therapy, developmental therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, service coordination, psychological, and other counseling services, and assistive technology. Evaluations, assessments, service plan development and service coordination are provided to families at no cost. Ongoing EI services are paid for by public insurance (i.e., Medicaid/All Kids), a family's private health insurance, when appropriate, state general revenue and other program funds. Families are assessed a family participation fee based on a sliding scale which considers their ability to pay.

Program Statistics - Early Intervention

Indicator DECEMBER 2021 SFY 2021 Average SFY 2020 Average
Referrals 2,481 2,747 2,813
Active IFSP's 20,863 17,814 22,474
0-3 Participation Rate 7.11% 6.25% 10.41%
Under 1 Participation Rate 1.10% 0.93% 1.30%
% With Medicaid 51.30% 50.48% 51.2%
% With Insurance 39.90% 39.78% 38.8%
% With Fees 30.40% 28.96% 28.8%

What's New in EI

The Bureau is ramping up our State Systemic Improvement Plan to improve child outcomes through two coherent improvement strategies of implementing the Child Outcomes Survey practice with fidelity and to have Family Engagement processes developed, measured, and put into practice. This work aligns with evidence-based services utilizing the Division of Early Childhood's Recommended Practices.

Early Intervention will begin to provide services to children after they turn three years old if they are eligible for the Early Intervention/Extended Services Program (EI/ES). This option for extended services through Part C to children over age three applies only if the child:

  1. has been determined eligible for early intervention, and
  2. has their third birthday between May 1 and August 31 and
  3. has been found eligible for early childhood special education services under IDEA and Section 14-8.02 of Public Act 102-0209 (Section 11h) and created an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)1

The purpose of WIC is to provide nutrition education and counseling, breastfeeding promotion and support, nutritious supplemental foods, and referrals to services for eligible pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women, infants, and children to age five. The program has been housed under the Department of Human Services since 1997. To be eligible, participants must be at 185% of the federal poverty level, be a resident of the State of Illinois, and have a nutrition risk.

Program Statistics - WIC

Eligibility Category Clients in December 2021
Pregnant Women 12,580
Breastfeeding Women 11,099
Postpartum Women 10,346
Infants 41,743
Children 73,699
Total 149,467

What's New in WIC

The WIC Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) implementation was completed on September 28, 2020. This included the creation of a new management information system called I-WIC that replaced the old Cornerstone system. Since then WIC staff have been working with local WIC agencies to address training and system issues in the Clinic modules in I-WIC that have arisen to ensure a quality customer experience. Central office staff have also been reviewing and resolving I-WIC system training, documentation and related issues with the Vendor, Administration, and Nutrition modules. USDA was very pleased that the Illinois WIC Program was still able to implement WIC EBT during the Covid-19 pandemic meeting the federal mandate.

Family Case Management1

The program target population is low-income families (below 200% of the federal poverty level) with a pregnant woman, an infant. The goals of the program are to help women have healthy babies and to reduce the rates of infant mortality and very low birth weight. To achieve these goals the program conducts outreach activities to inform expectant women and new mothers of available services and then assists them with obtaining prenatal and well-childcare. The program works with community agencies to address barriers to accessing medical services, such as childcare, transportation, housing, food, mental health needs and substance abuse services. Services are provided statewide through local Health Departments, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and community-based organizations. Home visits by program staff are provided in the first year of life.

Program Statistics - Family Case Management

Active Participant Counts for December 2021

Total
Cook Count 11,923
Downstate 22,501
Statewide 34,424

-Bureau of Program & Performance Management

1

Current month's Child Care, Early Intervention, Women, Infants, and Children, and Family Case Management data is not released until the end of the following month resulting in a one-month lag for this report.