ILLINOIS, August 27 - WHO:                  Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Director Heidi E. Mueller, Illinois State Senator Dale Fowler, Mayor Mike Absher and other special guests

WHAT:                 Ribbon cutting and speaking program of new regional and field office in Marion

WHEN:                 Thursday, August 29, 2024

                              10 a.m.

WHERE:               Parking lot

                              912 Pentecost Drive

                              Marion

WHY:                   Illinois DCFS Director Heidi E. Mueller, Sen. Dale Fowler, Mayor Mike Absher, Glenn Claria, former Director of Economic Development and Municipal Planning for Marion, will cut the ribbon on the new donated regional/field office in Marion. The building property, valued at $4.5 million is approximately 51,000 square feet and can accommodate 400 employees.

The agency's clinical, contract administration, day care and foster family licensing, education and transition services, permanency and quality assurance operations are housed at the new site. In the next year, the agency's child protection team, currently housed at two other locations in the Marion area, will be consolidated at this new location - further streamlining operations and creating a more convenient and comfortable environment for Franklin and Williamson County families served by DCFS.

About the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) - Currently celebrating 60 years as the nation's first cabinet-level child welfare agency, DCFS is responsible for protecting children from abuse or neglect by responding to reports received by the Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-252-2873 (1-800-25-ABUSE) or childabuse.illinois.gov (non-emergency). With the goal of keeping children safe, DCFS strengthens and supports families with a wide range of services. In the event a child must be removed from the ome, DCFS makes every effort to reunite them with their family. When the best interest of the child makes this impossible (less than 4% of the time), DCFS is committed to pursuing guardianship and fictive kin as primary options.