Fox Developmental Center Profile

See SODC Tier Report for latest census information

Individual Profile - Updated 11/01/2022

Location: Dwight - Livingston County (approx 75 miles SW of Chicago)

By the Numbers:

• 57 years of operation - opened in 1965, during the administration of Gov. Otto Kerner
• Current Census: 75
• $20.8 million budget in FY23
• 4 Units on Campus:
  • Unit 1B (19 beds), Unit 1C (16 beds), Unit 2B (Unoccupied), Unit 2C (20 beds), Unit 3B (Unoccupied), Unit 3C (20 beds)
• Fox Center has 254.10 Budgeted Staff
  • 217.1 Staff represented by American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
  • 27 Staff represented by Illinois Nurses Association (INA)
  • 3.7 Staff represented by Illinois Federation Public Employees (IFPE)
  • 11 Trades Staff
  • 1 Teamsters
  • 8 Merit Comp Staff
• Campus: Three buildings are connected by basements and catwalks; some maintenance buildings and Harmony Park. Area(s) Served: Region 1 Central & Region 1 South, which include the city of Chicago, several near west and south suburban communities in Cook County, Livingston County, as well as Kankakee, Grundy, LaSalle and Will Counties.
• Population Served: Adults who have severe and profound intellectual and developmental disabilities.

More Background:

Fox Center is an IDHS Residential Facility. The concept of normalization and opportunities for community integration are embraced at Fox Center. Fox Center admits and provides services to children and adults who have an intellectual disability without discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, national origin, or disability.

The primary purpose of the Fox Center is to provide residential, training, and health services to individuals who have a complex intellectual disability. It is the goal of the Fox Center is to assist everyone to achieve his/her life goal(s), participate as fully as possible in their daily life and to transition to community living to the maximum extent feasible. Programs and services are provided at Fox Center in a setting and atmosphere as comparable as possible to the patterns and lifestyle of the general community. Therefore, individuals' daily activities vary with respect to weekdays, weekends and holidays and locations at which activities and programs are provided to afford as normal rhythm of life as possible.

In 1883, twenty-five years after the establishment of the Village of Dwight, a medical organization was formed to establish the famous Keeley Institute for treatment of alcoholism, the first of its kind in the world. It burnt to the ground in 1895, which destroyed all three buildings and was rebuilt in 1903. In 1919, the buildings were leased from Keeley Institute by the Public Health Services Department for treatment of World War I Veterans. The hospital operated under the Public Health Service Department until 1922 when the Veterans Bureau was established to absorb all the Old National Homes. The buildings were sold to the government in 1923. In 1930, this facility became known as the Dwight Veterans Administration Hospital. On January 12, 1965, in an economy move, the Veterans Administration ordered the facility closed. Transfer of the Federal Property to the State of Illinois was accepted by Governor Otto Kerner on October 3, 1965, on behalf of the Department of Mental Health. The first admission of residents was on October 18, 1965.