Pilot Program (Pre-Launch Stage)
Where healing is the norm, not the exception, for every child in every system across Illinois.
THE HEALING FIRST INITIATIVE
Program Overview
Children affected by intergenerational trauma often navigate fragmented systems, leaving gaps in protection and support. The Healing First Initiative is in its pre-launch stage in Illinois, designed to create lasting systemic change for children and families. Guided by the C.H.I.L.D. Framework, the initiative will integrate trauma-informed and child-centered strategies with a deliberate focus on healing—an aspect often overlooked in a child’s journey. Without this focus, intergenerational cycles of trauma persist.
Through evidence-based practices and a shared vision for child safety and healing, The Healing First Initiative seeks to make healing the norm, not the exception, for every child in Illinois as the initiative grows and evolves.
Let’s Look at the Facts…
Why Healing First is Critical
Because the status quo costs Illinois $6.7 Billion annually and results in preventable fatalities. It is time to move from “managing” trauma to healing it.
15.5%
38.3%
have 2+ ACEs (High Risk)
of Illinois children have 1+ ACE
28.5%
~60%
have 4+ ACEs (Severe Risk)
of Illinois adults have 1+ ACE
238,169
Total cases associated with abuse or neglect (FY25)
117,323
Calls to Central State Registry (FY25)
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-
CAPABILITY GAP
58.2%
unfamiliar with the core science of trauma.
74.5%
atleast somewhat familiar with institutional trauma.
59.8%
not trained or unsure of being trained on historical trauma.
currently conduct ACEs screening for early detection.
15.4%
feel they don’t have adequate resources to treat trauma.
73.7%
of new investigators have ≤ 1 year of experience.
46.9%
Almost all training facilitators reported recieving no formal training to conduct individual or group debriefings.
-
-
registered staff missed medical training due to investigative activities.
43%
ACE stands for adverse childhood experience.
Sources: ACE
CHILDREN IN LIMBO
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-
-
-
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HUMAN & ECONOMIC COST
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-
-
-
injury and violence cost annually in medical and work loss costs - downstream effect of unhealed trauma.
$6.7 B
The Healing First Initiative is the first statewide initiative in Illinois where healing, not just protection, drives every system that touches a child. Healing is intentional, systemic, and central, not a byproduct of an applied practice. By connecting experts, responders, parents, and champions who have lived through similar challenges, the initiative empowers every first-touch adult to recognize trauma, intervene effectively, and foster long-term safety, stability, and well-being. Unlike other initiatives that focus primarily on advocacy or isolated interventions, The Healing First Initiative integrates evidence-based strategies across legal, social, educational, and health systems, creating a coordinated, cross-sector approach designed to break intergenerational cycles of trauma and make healing the norm for every child in Illinois.
Program Objectives
The Healing First Initiative is designed to create lasting, systemic change for children and families across Illinois. Our early-stage objectives are to:
Advance trauma-informed, healing-focused, and child-centered practices across the systems that touch children’s lives.
Support long-term, sustainable solutions that address broader public health and safety concerns.
Break intergenerational cycles of trauma, creating safer, more stable, and nurturing communities.
Empower founding partners to contribute expertise, resources, and funding that directly impact children’s safety and well-being.
Foster cross-system collaboration among professionals, advocates, and organizations.
Systemic Challenges and Vulnerable Children
When children enter the court system or are placed in foster care, they face complex circumstances that can be difficult to navigate. New relationships, environments, and rules create significant change and uncertainty during critical developmental periods. Decisions made in courtrooms and by state agencies have a lasting impact, yet these systems are not always structured to address the full scope of children’s needs.
Many children entering these systems have already experienced adversity, including neglect, exposure to domestic violence, or other forms of trauma. System interactions, whether inadvertently or not, are often constrained by pressured timelines, procedural checklists, and a focus on metrics, which can leave critical issues unaddressed and sometimes worsen outcomes for children.
FOCUS AREA I
Building Professional Capacity
Empowering professionals who serve as critical touchpoints in a child’s journey through specialized, role-based training developed in collaboration with accredited organizations and trauma experts is one of our focus areas.
We aim to equip professionals to recognize trauma, prevent further harm, and support long-term safety, stability, and well-being. Target populations include:
Courtroom Professionals and Child Advocates for trauma-informed, healing-focused, and child-centered advocacy and decision-making.
Social Workers & First Responders for improved risk assessment, navigating family dynamics, and cross-system coordination.
Other Key Professionals such as Teachers, Medical and Mental Health providers, and others involved in children’s care
Transparency and Data Driven Accountability
FOCUS AREA II
Children that go through the court system or foster care too often move through systems where critical information is siloed or never fully understood. The Healing First program prioritizes transparency and comprehensive reporting to ensure Illinois children do not become invisible within the very structures created to protect them.
Improved data practices, including consistent reporting on case types, risk indicators, service needs, and outcomes, will allow us to identify patterns and interventions to properly take care of those children during their most vulnerable times. By shining a light on trends that have historically gone unrecognized or unaddressed, we increase opportunities for prevention and healing, rather than a mere reaction.
Why is this important?
This work will allow for trend-based reporting that can help expose barriers and delays while maintaining strict confidentiality safeguards.
Aggregate reporting holds institutions responsible for ensuring that children are protected, not exposed to more harm.
Better resource alignment can be achieved through data-informed insights that can help ensure that services reach communities where needs are greatest.
This focus area will allow healing centered support by understanding what works and what fails, we strengthen services for parents and systems responsible for protecting children.
By improving reporting on trends and transparency, we identify harmful patterns better and accountability is made possible. When systems understand where families struggle most, solutions can be deployed timely and more effectively.
FOCUS AREA III
Cultivating Systems That Heal
Beyond training, transparency, and accountability, the Healing First Initiative will serve as a statewide hub, connecting supporters, collaborators, and systems that share a common vision: making healing the norm for every child.
The initiative will operate on multiple levels:
Early partners provide or refer essential services, such as shelter, mentoring, financial education, mental health support, and more. By contributing to these services, partners help meet children’s basic needs, promote holistic healing, and demonstrate social responsibility while advancing their own organizational goals.
The initiative also serves as a network of professionals and organizations to advance trauma-informed, healing-focused, child-centered practices. Partners benefit by accessing cross-sector collaboration, sharing evidence-based approaches, participating in systemic monitoring, and learning from other fields. This promotes improvements across multiple systems, supporting both child outcomes and partners’ mission-driven objectives.
The Center of Healing is rooted in trauma-informed care but goes further by creating coordinated, healing, and child-centered systems. By uniting systems and providing specialized training through independent parties for courts, social services, schools, and other decision-makers, we ensure trauma awareness translates into safer, healthier outcomes for children and survivors at every touchpoint.
Co-Create the Healing First Initiative Pilot Initiative
As a founding partner of this initiative, you will play a critical role in shaping the pilot phase of the Center of Healing. This is more than support—it is an opportunity to co-create an initiative that truly transforms systems for children across Illinois.
By participating, you will:
Co-Develop Pilot Modules – Collaborate with Unity for Children, accredited training organizations, and trauma experts to design specialized, role-based training that strengthens professional capacity.
Influence Early Implementation – Guide the initiative’s early strategies, ensuring interventions are trauma-informed, child-centered, and healing-focused.
Connect Across Systems – Engage with professionals and organizations in legal, social, educational, and health sectors to share best practices and foster cross-system collaboration.
Demonstrate Organizational Leadership – Contribute expertise, resources, and services that directly impact children’s well-being while enhancing your organizational mission, visibility, and social responsibility.
Shape Systemic Change – Help define practices, policies, and standards that make healing, not just protection, the norm for children in every system.
As a founding partner, your involvement will set the foundation for statewide impact, help refine pilot approaches, and position your organization as a leader in building trauma-informed, healing-focused systems.
Soft Launch Opportunity: Partners joining at this pre-launch stage will be part of the first cohort shaping the initiative, ahead of the soft launch is temporarily scheduled for early 2026.
Together, we can build systems that heal, not just protect, and ensure that every child in Illinois has access to safety, stability, and well-being.
Join Us in Building Lasting Change
Thank you for your interest in becoming a founding partner of the Center of Healing, a statewide initiative in Illinois dedicated to creating trauma-informed, healing-focused, and child-centered systems for children and families.
At this pre-launch stage, we are inviting organizations and individuals to join us in co-developing specialized training modules, shaping program strategies, and piloting early initiatives. Founding partners of this initiative play a critical role in building unified systems that heal, while helping to ensure that every child in Illinois experiences safety, stability, and well-being.
Participation as a founding partner requires an active commitment to collaboration, expertise sharing, and engagement in early planning and pilot activities. By applying, you acknowledge that the initiative is in its early stage, and your contributions will help refine, test, and shape the program before broader implementation.
PROBONO
Offer your expertise and skills to champion the rights of children. Legal, research, and other professional services are invaluable in our mission to protect and nurture every child in every system.
CORPORATE & PARTNER SPONSORSHIP
Strengthen your company’s reputation and commitment to a thriving corporate culture by directly impacting the lives of Illinois’ children through program and event sponsorship.
EMPLOYER MATCHING
Does your company have an employer matching policy? Through corporate matching, your employees can multiply your donation to Unity for Children.
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