Illinois’ Maternal and Child Health Services Title V Block Grant application is open for public comment until July 21

Illinois families, you have an opportunity to share your input on the state’s latest Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Title V Block Grant application and report.

The MCH Title V Block Grant is a federal and state partnership to improve the health and well-being of all mothers, infants and children. The block grant is authorized by Title V of the Social Security Act.

Every state receives MCH Title V Block Grant funds. At least 30 percent of these funds must support services for children and youth with special healthcare needs.

The Division of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC) has managed Illinois’ Title V program for children and youth with special healthcare needs since 1937.

Each year, states must complete an application for future funding and an annual report of our MCH activities from the last federal fiscal year. DSCC has partnered with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) to help with Illinois’ latest application.

The 2024 MCH Title V Block Grant Application and 2022 Annual Report are posted on the IDPH website. You can also see Illinois’ updated MCH Title V Block Grant Action Plan for 2021-25, which includes the Title V priorities, national performance measures and strategies.

You can share your comments or recommendations on these documents until noon on July 21.

Please send comments to Title V Coordinator Cassidy Chambers at Cassidy.Chambers@illinois.gov.

More details are on the IDPH website.

For more information about DSCC’s Title V role, check out our Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Report.

Updates make it simpler and more convenient for our participant families to share feedback

Our participant families are important to us, and your feedback matters. We’ve updated our family survey process to make it easier for you to share your thoughts about our services.

All participant families receive a series of surveys at certain points in their child’s journey with the Division of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC). 

We’ve simplified the process so all families will receive our annual survey at the same time. We will also send you fewer surveys throughout the year.  

On Feb. 15,  you will receive our updated annual survey. This survey replaces the questions you previously received on your enrollment anniversary. 

All families will receive this annual survey every February, regardless of enrollment date. 

The survey asks how well DSCC team members are supporting your family and meeting your needs. It also asks about:

• Your contact preferences
• How and when you’d like to meet with our team
• How well our staff communicates with you

How Your Feedback Makes a Difference

Your responses will help us strengthen your services. It also informs our decisions about DSCC policies and procedures that affect your family. 

Our surveys are optional, but we strongly encourage you to share your experiences. We want to ensure we’re doing all we can to help you meet your family’s needs and achieve your goals.

We make it a priority to not only listen to our participant families but to follow up on your ideas and concerns.

Recent and ongoing improvement projects that stem from family feedback include:

• We are strengthening our financial assistance process to serve families more quickly and efficiently.
• We are providing more training to our team so they can better explain and share information about state benefits.
• We will begin hosting a series of free webinars in 2023 for participant families to learn about health insurance plans, Medicaid coverage and more.
• We created new tip sheets to explain available benefits and services through the Medicaid waiver for those who are medically fragile and technology dependent (MFTD waiver). You can find these tips sheets on our Waiver Services for Home Care Families page.

We also spent 2022 looking at how to make our survey process more convenient for families. These efforts included gathering feedback from our Family Advisory Council.

FAC members shared concerns about the number of surveys families receive. In response, we removed our series of surveys focused on education. Now you can answer just a few questions about your child’s education needs on the annual survey.

You can find a complete list of our surveys on our Family Surveys page.

Please be on the lookout for the new annual survey on Feb. 15.  You will receive this survey either by email or mail, based on your preferences.

If you have questions or need more information, please contact your Care Coordinator.

We appreciate your partnership and look forward to hearing from you!