PEORIA HEIGHTS – Today, Shannon Farmer is part of the “elite” as the executive chef for the Country Club of Peoria. But until age 5, Farmer was a foster child who needed a forever home.
So when she learned the club hosts the annual Wine Down on Friday for the Center for Youth and Family Solutions, one of Illinois’ leading foster care nonprofits, she “felt very compelled.”
“I was like, ‘What do you need? How can I help?’ ” said Farmer, who had two foster families between the age of 1 and 5. Her own personal experience taught her how important agencies like CYFS are for kids who need to remember “this isn’t forever; this is your right now.”
Wine Down raises money for foster care, adoption services, senior citizen support, counseling
The fourth annual Wine Down is a night of gourmet dining, wine sampling, and laid-back conversation along with a silent auction, to help fund CYFS’s foster, adoption, counseling and senior citizen support services in 37 Illinois counties.
Farmer is preparing wagyu beef, a type of beef descended from a muscular breed of Japanese cattle that is known for its strong taste, “buttery” texture, and lower concentration of saturated fat.
“I wanted to provide something that people would be like, ‘Oh, I’ve never had that, but it sounds interesting,’ “ said Farmer, who grew up in Georgia and relocated to Peoria last year.
The night also features a dessert that further represents Farmer’s “new Americana” style combining classic favorites with international or southern flavors: an apple fritter converted into a bread pudding.
Tickets for the night are two for $250, or eight for $1,000, and the silent auction features $12,000 worth of donated items. The nonprofit hopes to raise $75,000 overall through the event.
Foster care shortage is nationwide
CYFS is trying to help address a situation that exists nationwide, and also specifically in Illinois and Iowa: a shortage of foster care. More kids are in need of foster care than the families available and willing to offer foster care.
As of January, Illinois had 18,129 children in foster care, and only about 17,000 foster homes are available, according to the Department of Chidldren and Family Services. In Iowa, 2,427 kids needed a foster home in 2024, with only 1,734 licensed foster families available, reports Iowa Public Radio.
Nationwide, 343,077 children need foster homes, with estimates of less than 200,000 foster homes available.
“The key need has continued to remain the same: a severe shortage of foster parents,” says Celeste Matheson, spokesperson for CYFS. “We are constantly looking at different ways to engage and attract individuals throughout the country who want to become a foster parent.”
CYFS helped 1,300 of those Illinois foster kids last year, Matheson said. Altogether, the nonprofit helped about 16,000 Illinoisans total, including 9,000 families. The total also includes young boys at a small group home in Morton for the severely abused, and some senior citizens in the Peoria area.
Finding a match between foster children and foster families is just one service CYFS provides to foster or adoptive children and parents.
Its Intact program helps guide and counsel families in crisis on how to tackle challenges like hygiene, pest control, mental health needs, and financial planning that could lead to their children being placed in foster care.
Its Respite program pulls in previous and current foster parents and adoptive families to help out with temporary placements for foster kids awaiting homes.
CYFS is also deaing with spiralling insurance costs, created by fewer companies offering insurance for foster agencies. Earlier this year, CYFS head Patrick Phelan told Capitol News Illinois that CYFS insurance costs ballooned from $45,000 in 2019 to more than $1 million last year.
Funds from Wine Down help handle all of these costs. In addition, CYFS aims long-term to obtain a group home where kids awaiting foster families can live temporarily, Matheson said.
The home would also serve as a training center for CYFS employees and offer a controlled environment to gain experience in identifying needs.
CYFS also offers in-home counseling to seniors, and a friendly visitor program in the counties around Peoria that connects seniors with a volunteer who swings by for companionship, running errands, and providing a break for the senior’s caregiver.
“Our outreach services are designed to help isolated seniors, particularly in more rural areas, feel more connected,” Matheson said.
LGBTQ+ foster needs inspired CYFS’s founding
Illinois’ decision in 2011 to ensure LGBTQ+ parents can be foster parents is what inspired CYFS to form. The Legislature passed the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, barring foster care and adoption agencies from excluding LGBTQ+ couples in civil unions from the process.
It was a law the state’s largest foster care agency at the time, Illinois Catholic Charities, refused to follow. CYFS formed in 2012 to help fill the void. Staying connected to LGBTQ+ communities has remained a priority of the nonprofit, Matheson says.
“We’re proud of that, that we have that inclusivity for the LGBTQ+ community in particular,” Matheson said. “We want to be considered a safe space.”
Tickets to the 6 p.m. WineDown at the Country Club, 4700 N. Grandview Ave. in Peoria Heights, are available here. To learn more about CYFS, head to its website at cyfsolutions.org, or its Facebook page.
