It is a good day for the therapists of Illinois. Less so for the children of the state.

Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a “children’s behavioral health” bill into law July 31. The legislation mandates “universal mental health screening in Illinois schools by the 2027-28 school year,” according to Pritzker’s press release. Children in third to 12th grade must be screened at least once a year by that date. 

The screenings will be self-assessed, WWTW reports, citing Dana Weiner, chief officer for the Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative (CBHTI). Parents may opt their children out of the program, Weiner says, according to WWTW. 

Journalist Abigail Shrier, author of several books on child psychology and health, was quick to denounce the bill. 

“I want to be on-the-record and crystal clear. This is a disastrous policy that will do vastly more harm than good,” she predicts in an X post.

“Watch as tens of thousands of Illinois kids get shoved into the mental health funnel and convinced they are sick. Many or most of which will be false positives.”

This terrible law will be used to ask every child attending a public school pseudoscientific questions about their “gender identity” that’s going to confuse a lot of otherwise normal children and flag them to visit with a “gender specialist.” https://t.co/c15wyJ9RV0

— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) August 7, 2025

At best,........

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