Alternatives to Let It Be Us for Foster Care Preparation in Illinois

Let It Be Us is the most visible foster care organization in Illinois. Based in Barrington, they function as a recruitment, matching, and advocacy non-profit. Their licensing coaches answer questions by phone and email. Their webinars provide accessible introductions to the foster care process. Their Heart Gallery features photos and profiles of waiting children. For many Illinois families, Let It Be Us is the first organization they encounter when they start researching foster care.

LIBU is genuinely helpful. This is not a criticism of their work. But understanding what LIBU does and does not provide — and what alternatives exist for the gaps — is important for families who want complete, agency-neutral preparation for the Illinois licensing process.

What Let It Be Us Does Well

• First-contact accessibility. LIBU's website, phone coaching, and orientation webinars are free and available to anyone. For families in the "thinking about it" stage, LIBU provides a warm, low-pressure introduction.
• Agency matching. LIBU connects prospective families with POS agencies in their geographic area that match their preferences (foster-to-adopt, infant care, therapeutic foster care, sibling groups).
• Recruitment advocacy. LIBU runs campaigns, events, and media outreach to recruit new foster families in Illinois. They are one of the primary reasons the public is aware of the foster care need in the state.
• Heart Gallery. Their photo listing of waiting children helps families understand the real faces and stories behind the statistics.

Where Let It Be Us Has Limitations

Three structural limitations matter for families who want comprehensive licensing preparation:

1. Partner Agency Bias

LIBU works with a network of partner POS agencies. When they recommend an agency, the recommendation comes from within that partner network. They will not compare their partner agencies against each other, and they will not discuss agencies outside their network as alternatives. They also will not present direct DCFS licensing as a viable path, even though it is — particularly for kinship caregivers.

This is not deceptive. It is structural. LIBU's mission is recruitment for the agencies they work with. But it means their agency recommendations are filtered, not comprehensive.

2. No Tactical Rule 402 Preparation

LIBU's webinars cover the licensing process at a high level: what to expect, how long it takes, what training involves, what the home study looks like. They do not walk families through Rule 402 at the level of specific compliance requirements — the 40-square-foot bedroom minimum, the 115-degree water temperature maximum, the same-floor infant requirement for multi-level homes, the egress requirements for basement bedrooms, the locked storage requirements for medications, cleaning supplies, firearms, and "dangerous tools."

This level of detail is beyond LIBU's scope because their role is getting families into the pipeline, not preparing them for the home inspection.

3. No Written Reference Material

LIBU's guidance is delivered through phone coaching and live webinars. These are valuable in the moment, but they do not produce a document you can reference later. You cannot bring a phone conversation to your home inspection. You cannot replay a webinar slide when you are measuring bedroom square footage or testing water temperature.

The Alternatives

Direct Contact with POS Agencies

You do not need LIBU to connect with a POS agency. Every POS agency in Illinois accepts direct inquiries. Brightpoint, LCFS, Catholic Charities, Hephzibah, Little City, Ada S. McKinley, Lawrence Hall, UCAN, Aunt Martha's, ChildServ, SOS Children's Villages — all have websites, phone numbers, and orientation schedules.

The advantage of going directly to agencies: you get first-hand information from the organization that will actually license you, without an intermediary layer.

The disadvantage: each agency presents itself in the best possible light. No agency will compare itself unfavorably to a competitor. No agency will tell you that another agency has better caseload ratios, more responsive after-hours support, or more experience with the type of care you want to provide. You hear each agency's pitch but have no framework for comparing them.

If you attend three orientations, you will leave with three recruitment pitches and no comparative data. The agency comparison problem is the same whether you go through LIBU or go directly — the difference is that LIBU narrows the field to their partners, while direct contact gives you a broader but equally uncomparable set.

DCFS Website (dcfs.illinois.gov)

The DCFS website is the authoritative source for regulatory requirements. Rule 402 is published in full. Application forms are available. Regional office contact information is listed. The Foster Parent Handbook is downloadable.

For families who are comfortable reading administrative code — attorneys, social workers, compliance professionals — the DCFS website provides the raw material to self-navigate the process.

For everyone else, the site is widely described by applicants as difficult to navigate. Dead links, circular redirects, and organizational structures that assume familiarity with DCFS terminology are common complaints. The information exists but is not organized for prospective foster parents who are approaching the system for the first time.

The DCFS website is essential for forms and regulatory text. It is not a substitute for a guide that translates those regulations into actionable preparation steps.

Foster Care Navigator Program (FCNP)

The Foster Care Navigator Program provides information and resources for families interested in fostering in Illinois. They offer web-based information and phone support. Their scope overlaps somewhat with LIBU but with different organizational relationships.

FCNP can be a useful starting point, particularly for families in regions where LIBU's partner agency network is thin. The limitation is similar to LIBU: their role is to move families into the pipeline, not to provide deep tactical preparation for Rule 402 compliance or agency-neutral comparisons.

Reddit and Facebook Groups

Foster parent communities on Reddit (r/Fosterparents, r/fosterit) and Facebook (Illinois-specific foster parent groups) provide something no other resource does: candid, first-person accounts of the licensing experience from families who have been through it.

The value is authenticity. When a foster parent on Reddit says "my POS agency was unresponsive and I wish I had gone with a different one," that is real feedback you will not get from LIBU or any agency website.

The limitation is reliability. Crowdsourced advice is situationally specific. A family whose POS agency handled everything smoothly in DuPage County gives different guidance than a kinship caregiver in Carbondale who struggled with DCFS directly. An answer that was accurate under last year's regulations may be outdated after the KIND Act took effect. And the advice is often contradictory — one poster says a misdemeanor from 2005 was an automatic disqualifier, another says the same offense was approved after a Director's Waiver review. Both may be telling the truth about their specific situation, but neither generalization is reliable guidance for your situation.

Reddit and Facebook are best used as supplements to authoritative information, not as primary guides.

Adoption or Child Welfare Attorney

An attorney specializing in child welfare or family law provides the most personalized, legally authoritative guidance available. They can interpret Rule 402 as it applies to your specific home, advise on background check issues including Director's Waiver petitions, explain the KIND Act as it applies to your kinship situation, and represent you in contested matters.

At 250 to 500 dollars per hour, this is appropriate for families with legal complexity — prior criminal history, CANTS involvement, interstate complications, contested placements. For standard licensing preparation without legal complications, attorney involvement is typically unnecessary and expensive.

Illinois Foster Care Licensing Guide

The Illinois Foster Care Licensing Guide fills the specific gaps that LIBU's model leaves open:

• Agency-neutral POS comparison matrix — comparing LSSI, Hephzibah, Brightpoint, Catholic Charities, Little City, Ada S. McKinley, and others by caseload ratios, after-hours support, geographic coverage, training format, and LGBTQ+-affirming track records. This is the comparison that no entity in the Illinois system is structured to provide.
• Room-by-room Rule 402 home audit checklist — not a general "make sure your home is safe" list, but the specific requirements that cause first-inspection failures: 115-degree water temperature, 40-square-foot bedroom minimum, smoke detector placement within 15 feet of every sleeping room, basement egress, locked storage for medications and dangerous tools, the same-floor infant requirement for multi-level homes.
• KIND Act kinship pathway — consolidated guidance on the 2025 expedited certification standards for relative caregivers, which LIBU covers only generally.
• Background check tracker — mapping each required clearance to its processing agency and expected timeline, with follow-up templates for stalled checks.
• Printable worksheets — agency comparison worksheet, home inspection checklist, licensing timeline tracker, background check status tracker. Documents you can carry through your home and reference during the process.

The guide costs less than a single fingerprinting fee and is available for immediate download. If it does not deliver, reply to your download email within 30 days for a full refund.

How to Use LIBU and a Guide Together

LIBU and a licensing guide are not competitors. They serve different functions.

Use Let It Be Us for:

• Initial orientation and emotional readiness assessment
• Connecting with POS agencies in your area (understanding that their recommendations come from their partner network)
• Learning about waiting children through the Heart Gallery
• Ongoing advocacy and community events

Use the guide for:

• Agency-neutral comparison before committing to a POS agency
• Room-by-room home inspection preparation against Rule 402
• KIND Act kinship pathway if you are a relative caregiver
• Background check tracking and follow-up during the licensing process
• Printable reference materials during the inspection and throughout the timeline

The two resources cover different parts of the licensing journey. LIBU gets you started. The guide gets you prepared.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Let It Be Us a foster care agency? No. Let It Be Us is a non-profit recruitment, matching, and advocacy organization. They do not license foster families. They connect prospective families with POS agencies that handle the licensing process. Their services — coaching, webinars, matching — are free.

Does Let It Be Us charge anything? No. LIBU's services are free to prospective foster families. Their funding comes from donations, grants, and community support.

Can I become a foster parent in Illinois without using Let It Be Us? Yes. LIBU is one of many pathways into the foster care system. You can contact any POS agency directly, contact the DCFS regional office for your area, or begin your research independently. LIBU is helpful but not required.

What does Let It Be Us not cover? LIBU does not provide agency-neutral comparisons (their recommendations come from their partner network), detailed Rule 402 home inspection preparation (their guidance is general), or consolidated KIND Act kinship pathway information. They also do not produce written reference materials — their guidance is delivered through phone coaching and live webinars.

Is there a free alternative that covers everything? No single free resource covers everything. The DCFS website has the regulatory text but is difficult to navigate. LIBU has the coaching but lacks agency neutrality and Rule 402 depth. Reddit has candid first-person accounts but is unreliable as primary guidance. The trade-off for comprehensive, organized, agency-neutral preparation is either paying a consultant (hundreds to thousands of dollars) or purchasing a guide (less than a fingerprinting fee).

Can I use the guide if I am already working with Let It Be Us? Yes. The guide supplements LIBU's orientation with the tactical preparation that LIBU does not provide. Many families use both: LIBU for initial connection and the guide for home inspection preparation, agency comparison, and ongoing tracking.

See more United States guides →