Saturday, May 28, 2011

Illinois Families Relocating for Services


Chrisa Hickey, a northwest suburban mom whose 16-year-old son hears voices, has bought property in Wisconsin with an eye to the future.
She wouldn't leave Barrington for career, retirement or the more languid pace of small-town living. Her relocation plans are strictly a way to keep Tim in his $85,000-a-year residential treatment center, currently funded by the state of Illinois.
"People ask, 'Why spend that kind of money on one kid?' And I tell them that he's 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and could pick up a desk when he was 4. If he gets angry in class, do you want him sitting next to your kid?"
Although no one tracks why people leave one state for another, anecdotal evidence suggests Hickey is one of several who are planning to leave Illinois — or has already left — because of diminishing human services here.

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