Public Accountability Report Public Accountability Report

2025 Family and Community Services - Family Wellness
Mission Statement The Office of Family Wellness improves the health and well-being of families and individuals and promotes self-sufficiency and the integrity of families by administering community-based programs that assure adequate and quality prenatal and primary pediatric care; offer support services to ensure access to care; provide nutrition information, education, assessment, surveillance, counseling, and supplemental foods to reduce infant mortality; ensure proper growth and development of infants and children up to age five; and improve the food security of low-income seniors. 
Program Goals and Objectives
  1. Reduce infant mortality and morbidity.
    1. By June 30, 2026, increase the percentage of infants exclusively breastfed at three months to 20%.
    2. By June 30, 2026, increase the percentage of infants currently breastfed at six months to 35%.
Source of Funds General Revenue Fund, DHS Federal Projects Fund, DHS State Projects Fund, USDA Women, Infants and Children Fund, Hunger Relief Fund Statutory Authority 20 ILCS 1305/10-25
Fiscal Year 2026 Target/Projected Fiscal Year 2025 Actual Fiscal Year 2025 Target/Projected Fiscal Year 2024 Actual Fiscal Year 2023 Actual
Input Indicators
Total expenditures - all sources (in thousands) $ 486,159.3 $ 337,778.8 $ 401,559.3 $ 278,822.5 $ 274,063.2
Total expenditures - state appropriated funds (in thousands) $ 486,159.3 $ 337,778.8 $ 401,559.3 $ 278,822.5 $ 274,063.2
Average monthly full-time equivalents 49.0 49.0 49.0 49.0 49.0
Output Indicators
Number of pregnant women and infants enrolled in FCM (a) N/A 72,587 75,000 72,461 72,440
Number of FCM participant births (a) N/A 20,249 23,000 22,902 26,997
Number of WIC participant births (b,c) 52,000 50,893 52,000 51,767 51,413
Average number of active participants with food benefits per month 176,000 174,347 171,250 167,120 162,906
Number of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants participating in direct education, unduplicated 25,000 49,644 63,000 52,000 62,552
Outcome Indicators
Percentage of postpartum clients breastfeeding exclusively at 12 weeks 16.80% 16.80% 20.00% 17.30% 20.20%
Percentage of WIC mothers who continue to breastfeed their infants at six months (a) N/A 11.30% 35.00% 12.30% 16.73%
Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births 5.9 5.9 5.6 5.6 5.6
Very low birth weight rate 1.40% 1.40% 1.40% 1.40% 1.40%
Percentage of FCM-active pregnant and postpartum women who receive depression screening (b,c) N/A 7.70% 95.00% 82.10% 78.30%
Percentage of FCM-active pregnant and postpartum women who receive a reproductive life plan (c) N/A 74.30% 95.00% 84.20% 87.70%
Percentage of children completing at least one developmental screening in the first 12 months of life (c) N/A 58.70% 90.00% 70.40% 71.50%
Percentage of women receiving at least two contacts from a breastfeeding peer counselor the week after delivery 46.00% 46.00% 43.00% 36.00% 25.13%
External Benchmarks
National infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.4
Footnotes
SNAP Education reports on the federal fiscal year, not the state fiscal year. Therefore, fiscal year 2025 data is estimated, not final. This program ended June 30, 2025. This is a generous estimate as federal fiscal year 2026 program funding was eliminated in OBBRA. The provider is utilizing carry-forward funds from federal fiscal year 2025 as they wind down program services. We expect direct education to be much lower given that their funding for federal fiscal year 2026 was less than half of what the provider normally has to deliver programming.

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