Are making a difference in the statistics for Illinois. 
So says Jerry Stermer of the group he represents called Voices for Illinois Children (of the clever paid cookie variety):

"We have been moving in the right direction," said Jerry Stermer, president of Voices for Illinois Children.  

Stermer again regarding our state’s blueprint of oversight for all-"We believe we’re on the road to universal preschool, as we had anticipated being."

From the Northwest Herald about our direction (south, in my opinion):

Illinois did better than the national average at keeping students in school, with 6 percent of Illinois teens reported as high school dropouts in 2004 compared with 8 percent nationwide. In 2003, 8 percent of Illinois teens dropped out.

There are many who believe that statistics might get jimmied with a bit. From Jay Greene of the Manhattan Institute from 2002:

Altogether, five districts among the 50 largest districts in the U.S. have overall graduation rates below 50%: Cleveland (28%), Memphis (42%), Milwaukee (43%), Columbus (45%), and Chicago (47%).

Give Chicago a medal!  They went from a dropout rate of 53% to helping out with the IL average of  8% in one year!  A miracle that should have been proclaimed far and wide.  And why wasn’t it?

Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

- Autobiography of Mark Twain

"No child in Illinois should be growing up where family resources are less than thefederal poverty level," Stermer said. 

So what to do, what to do?  Take them away from said family? 

Many of those homes without a full-time breadwinner are headed by a single parent who might have a part-time job with no benefits, Stermer said.

What to do?  Here’s another of Stermer’s solution. 

Stermer said state-funded programs such as preschools and home visits to families from social workers and nurses are making a difference in the statistics for Illinois.

And that exact phrasing lines up  perfectly with the IL Childrens Mental Health Act Preliminary Plan (page 28):

Provide at least two voluntary home visits by a registered nurse to all Illinois families following the birth of a child to assess the physical, social and emotional health of the new family, and link them to appropriate follow-up services as needed to prevent the emergence of developmental, behavioral and pychosocial problems.

Are single parent children "at risk"?  I’ve met amazing single parents whose children are hardly "at risk".   But labels make for funding which makes for the ‘need’ for more oversight.  Seems like these groups/people such as Mr. Stermer’s, have a little bias or dare I say it, bigotry in their ‘helpfulness’? 

Wonder if those home visits mentioned by Stermer were voluntary?