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* Hannah Meisel at the Daily Line…
Staff at all levels of the Illinois’ beleaguered Department of Children and Family Services is not responsive to calls, several stakeholders have told The Daily Line, pointing to major communications issues as one reason for the agency’s troubles in recent years.
But some say the slowness to respond has gotten worse in the months since new agency Director Marc Smith was appointed by Gov. JB Pritzker in March. Smith came to DCFS from the state’s largest nonprofit provider of services to families in crisis and worked for the department from 1993-2000. […]
DCFS spokesperson Jassen Strokosch said the agency’s mid- and high-level staff has seen a lot of reorganization in the last few months, which may explain why those on the outside are having issues getting in touch with the right people. […]
[Jill Glick, a physician with the University of Chicago and founder of its Child Advocacy and Protective Services team] said issues within DCFS — especially communication — is “probably the worst it’s been.”
“Cases are getting reassigned between workers a lot,” Glick said. “They’re so understaffed because of changeovers. The reality is, many workers I’ve worked with for over 10 years, who were rapid-fire responders, are not answering their phones.” […]
“I don’t know if [Smith] is aware of it,” Glick said. “It’s crucial they know the phone is not getting answered right now. I work my behind off. They all have our personal cell phone numbers…Mark Smith needs to be answering his phone and listening to this stuff.”
And when stakeholders tried to speak with Director Smith after a recent legislative hearing, he blew them off.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 1:21 pm
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There’s a lot of rumbling from the front line workers too.
Comment by Candy Dogood Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 1:26 pm
===And when stakeholders tried to speak with Director Smith after a recent legislative hearing, he blew them off.===
Governors own. They always do.
This isn’t a “communication” problem, this is “how far can we blow this off to get reorganized before we get called on it” problem.
Any administration will face challenges in;
DCFS
DOC
IDOT
DNR
Those agencies are negative press gold mines, as the function of each is to work smoothly until you don’t. Then it’s big news. They are arguably the toughest agencies.
Blowing folks off? Is that how it works?
I’ve said here a few times, the first year, getting folks into place, I’m cool with that benchmark.
I’m not at all cool with a premise that this year is a freebie pass to being unresponsive. Governing demands accountability and the ability to be available when times are good and bad, or when times are an organized mess.
Agency work is difficult, fulfilling agency missions are difficult when that agency refuses to see the harm it’s going with a purposeful lack of communicating.
I hope this gets resolved.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 1:41 pm
If you are arguing Jill Glick just doesn’t know the right people to call…I mean, I am sure she called the DCFS Director.
Comment by Topeka Joe Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 1:42 pm
DCFS has placed my grandsons with me (foster care). Communication at our level is also awful. The boys were placed with me in January and I put them into daycare in February. As of today, our daycare provider has NOT been paid. Paperwork has been submitted and accepted at least three times.
The agency requires the boys and I to be fingerprinted. The only company they use in our area is open for 4-hours once a week and it took months for me to get the proper paperwork to have them done.
20 years ago I was a guradian ad litem in Illinois. The agency was a mess back then but I have never even spoken with our guardian ad litem. In fact, she doesn’t return my calls, has never spoken with our pediatrician, daycare provider, school teachers, neighbors, relatives … no one.
Comment by Transplant Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 1:49 pm
It is too large and needs to be either broken apart or divided into regions completely controlled separately.
Comment by Publius Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 2:02 pm
Of all areas to fall down, this is the absolute worst. Obviouly it is extremely challenging, but no excuse for continued deterioration. Does JB know how bad this situation is?
Comment by SSL Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 2:09 pm
Sounds like a new agency director in over his head.
Comment by DD Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 2:51 pm
This cannot be rocket science. How do other states do it? Or are they as bad as us? And I don’t mean just nearby, but other similar sized states.
Comment by Bruce( no not him) Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 2:53 pm
Smith was a really bad pick. He is ill equipped to deal with DCFS. Not sure why he was even in the running.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 3:16 pm
The DCFS Director and Deputy Directors used to meet regularly with senior people from the contracting agencies. Unless they stopped this, the Director knows the problems.
If there has been a lot of change in RUTAN covered positions, the system may be locked up in the process. The chain of promotions may take month to resolve.
I would like to know how the opioid abuse increase has affected the investigative caseload and the number of children coming into care.
I saw on an earlier post that the number of children in care is increasing. The system already had difficulty getting enough good foster homes. (Simply paying more money will probably not solve the problem. Just as paying more money does not create enough more quality pro quarterbacks. )
Comment by Last Bull Moose Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 3:42 pm
Can any of you wonderful Cap Faxers suggest a good source or website to look at DCFS statistics? How many kids in care by year? How many in foster care, length of time, etc? Thanks in advance.
Comment by Iris Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 4:40 pm
I’m looking for historical data and can only find info back to 2015 on the DCFS website
Comment by Iris Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 4:50 pm
On a similar subject, the incompetent Lottery England based manager, is also over its head. Sales are down and employee morale is in the basement. Significant damage will be done to the Lottery Brand before Camelot goes the way of the previous manager, Northstar. Let’s stop these silly experiments and bring the operation back to the State.
Comment by Quicksand Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 3:26 am