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* Last week…
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith has now been slapped with an eighth contempt of court order for failing to place a teen in the department’s care appropriately.
The order was issued by Juvenile Court Judge and former County Public Guardian Patrick Murphy.
In this case, a 14-year-old girl was taken into temporary DCFS custody last September. Since then, she has been moved 21 times. She was stuck in a psychiatric hospital and was then moved around to different shelters, hospital emergency rooms, DCFS offices, and emergency foster placements.
In February, the judge ordered DCFS to place the teen in a residential facility. That order was not carried out, and the teen ran away.
* The Illinois Times has a must-read story about the acute problems at DCFS…
Building more emergency shelters and funding more foster homes seems on the surface to be a logical way to start improving a troubled child welfare system in Illinois.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has been beset by images of children sleeping in department offices because they have nowhere else to go, reports of children spending too much time in restrictive psychiatric facilities, and a lack of sufficient foster parents to accommodate children who have been removed from their families.
The department has issued three calls for proposals asking providers to submit plans for building emergency shelter capacity, emergency foster homes and programming for youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The proposals address the apparent shortage of housing and services for many of the state’s most vulnerable youth.
But a group that has been at odds with DCFS for decades about how the department cares for those caught up in the child welfare system has blasted the proposals as the wrong thing at the wrong time.
“This is precisely the sort of ill-considered, misdirected, counterproductive, fiscally irresponsible, and panic-driven activity that Plaintiffs have been working to prevent” during ongoing litigation, reads a recent post on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) website.
“It is troubling that the department is actively encouraging providers to develop more shelter beds and emergency foster homes to serve the ‘one percent of youth’ DCFS acknowledges it currently struggles to place – those who are stuck in psychiatric hospitals beyond medical necessity, those stranded in emergency rooms due to lack of psychiatric hospital capacity and those who have lost their placement due to extreme behaviors.”
“Every expert has told the department that these youth do not belong in shelters, and DCFS knows from its own failed experience that these youth are not accepted by emergency foster homes because they lack the supports to address these youths’ severe, immediate needs,” the post concludes.
So if more emergency services aren’t the answer, how do you fix the Illinois child welfare system?
* Richard Irvin wants a new DCFS director…
After a judge last week issued a contempt of court order for the eighth time against Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith, Aurora Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin is calling on JB Pritzker to remove him from his post noting children in the state’s care are continuously put in unsafe conditions.
Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert called the agency “a colossal waste of taxpayer money,” and noted that the current dysfunction happening at DCFS is something he has never witnessed prior to the Pritzker Administration:
“In the more than 30 years that I’ve been practicing in Juvenile Court, I cannot recall a single prior instance where a judge held the DCFS director in contempt. And now it’s happened eight times in eleven weeks. That’s how dysfunctional DCFS has become.”
This is just another chapter in the string of failures at Pritzker’s state agencies.
“It’s a disgrace that JB Pritzker has allowed this critical agency to falter to the point that multiple court interventions have been required to protect vulnerable children in the state’s care,” said Irvin. “Decisive action must be taken in order to improve DCFS and ensure that no other children are wrongfully put in dangerous situations and abandoned by the state. Pritzker needs to take ownership of this failure and find a new responsible director who will right the wrongs of this agency.”
* Response from the Pritzker campaign…
Instead of using vulnerable children as political pawns, Richard Irvin should finally own up to the fact that he explicitly advertised his legal services to abusive parents and promised to defend them against their rights being terminated for abuse or neglect.
The team running and bankrolling Irvin’s campaign are the very same people who orchestrated some of the most devastating cuts to DCFS the state has ever seen and the impact of Rauner’s budget slashes are still being felt today. Governor Pritzker remains committed to righting those wrongs by investing in help for children in our state’s care.
…Adding… From an NBC 5 story, here’s Sen. Darren Bailey’s response…
I’m sick and tired of hearing this blame on Rauner or on Trump, or whatever it is they want to blame it on. Take responsibility and make changes. Director Smith has been in charge of DCFS since day one.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 9:49 am
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A new govenor that actually tries to make it better.
It’s crazy to me that JB has managed this the way he has. IL GOP actually has some real issues to bring up and hold him accountable to.
Comment by The Dude Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 10:13 am
It may be time to burn it all down and start over.
Whatever is going on now is not working.
I have no clue how to fix it, but I’m not sure the current folks do either.
Comment by Bruce( no not him) Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 10:20 am
Editorials slamming DCFS ran all over the state this past weekend.
I’m a Democrat, but the Pritzker team needs a reboot quickly on this critical issue. And their campaign needs a better rapid-response team. Instead of reverting to the typical attacks on Irvin, they need to respond with what they’re doing proactively to solve this crisis. Do better all the way around.
Comment by Illinois Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 10:22 am
“Hey, look over there” is a terrible response.
Comment by ChrisB Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 10:23 am
Good grief. All administrative considerations aside, there’s no excuse, on a human level, for the way these poor kids have been treated.
Also, I know the court’s options are limited, but these contempt orders seem not to have had much effect. Perhaps there would be more movement if Smith himself were to face real, personal consequences for inaction–if that’s possible?
Comment by Crispy Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 10:32 am
Golbert is his normal calm, reasonable self I see. Kids have been hospitalized too long for years, the courts have decided to do something about it, it’s not something new that JB did. If anything it’s losing hundreds of beds under Sheldon that made the problem worse. And Golbert should know this, which means that him implying Pritzker is worse than his predecessors is a lie, not a mistake
Comment by Perrid Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 10:34 am
“It may be time to burn it all down and start over.”
This may well be the answer. Every Governor has had their own DCFS crises or issues to deal with.
Perhaps the time has come for the legislative, executive and judicial branches to visit just what the mission of DCFS is how that mission is best delivered and redesign the department working with groups like the ACLU and ICOY.
For too long the cycle of DCFS crises, court intervention, consent decree has been on a loop. Time to think outside the box,
Comment by Give Me A Break Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 10:38 am
The person I know who is best qualified to lead DCFS is too smart to take the job.
Placing children coming out of psychiatric hospitals is almost impossible. Proper facilities and staff are very expensive. I do not think the private sector/charitable organizations with whom DCFS contracts are able to have the capacity needed. The State may have to build and staff its own facilities. However, the problems at veterans’ facilities make that a worrisome solution.
Getting enough qualified foster parents is another huge problem. More money might help, but it might be like looking for Superbowl caliber quarterbacks. There just are not enough of them to fill all the slots.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 10:43 am
=== Perhaps the time has come for the legislative, executive and judicial branches to visit just what the mission of DCFS is ===
There is no need to revisit, this is settled law, and constrained by federal funding. The Mission of the agency is clear, and the ACLU’s warning is correct. Director Smith’s plan takes the agency backward and not forward, and perhaps most alarming for Team Pritzker, seems designed to steer large contracts to Smith’s former employer, the state’s largest emergency shelter provider, the same folks who put a foster kid in chains to transport him across the state.
Comment by James McIntyre Fan Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 10:53 am
DCFS will always be a mess because every one of these situations is lose-lose. Fix child poverty.
I’m a foster mom. My current kids’ mom can’t keep a job or a car or pay her utility bills for her public housing. She could parent her kids though. If my foster care payments followed the kids home, she could do it. But we delay and delay… because statutorily you’re not supposed to deny parental rights solely because of poverty… but they won’t just hand parents money to take care of their own kids. So now I get that money and the State pays for caseworkers, visit supervisors/drivers, everyone’s lawyers, and all that overhead, and it probably costs at least twice what it would cost to just return them home with their foster care payment continuing to go to their mom.
The reforms the groups are talking about are fine, but it would be nice if those weren’t “DCFS” reforms, but supports that could be in place long before DCFS even gets involved. Parents shouldn’t have to get to the point of desperation where child protective services comes in before they can get support they need. And DCFS isn’t wrong about needing to increase options for the most difficult 1% of placements–there will always be a need for good options for those teenagers.
Comment by Horseshoe voter Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 10:57 am
Someone needs to light a fire under this administration. The judge is trying, but that isn’t working so far. Maybe the judge should order the Director and the Governor to personally take home every kid they don’t have a timely placement for?
Anyway, management needs to change just because of the optics.
But that isn’t going to solve the problem of not enough slots for placement.
Time for the State itself to open a facility of last resort for emergency placement when no slots are available. In order to get it up and running in a timely manner, the GA (or maybe the Governor as an emergency order) needs to authorize bypassing all the procurement rules and give his newly announced coordination czar basically unlimited spending authority and organizational authority to accomplish that task.
Then the czar needs to address the rest of the issues and the root causes there are a lack of slots, albeit low reimbursement rates or lack of training or poor policies or whatever.
While turning one person loose with unlimited authority might lead to a disaster, it may not be any worse than the existing disaster.
Comment by RNUG Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 11:05 am
Too many advocates involved. Some of these kids can’t be “fixed.” some of these kids can’t be fostered. they have been too traumatized and damaged by evil people.
Until you accept reality you can’t determine what success looks like.
Maybe Marc Smith isn’t a good director. i have no idea. But i don’t trust the courts or the ACLU. Why don’t some judges and board members of the ACLU foster some children? let us know how that goes
Comment by Merica Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 12:41 pm
James, we have problems now, kids are in the state’s care now with nowhere to go besides a hospital bed. And the ACLU wants to ignore that and throw money at community providers hoping that eventually fewer kids will need to be taken into care. Its an aspirational dream, that MAY turn into a long term plan, doesn’t help today
Comment by Perrid Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 12:49 pm
@Perrid
This is no long-range fantasy. Therapeutic Foster Care is real, it works, and as LSSI has demonstrated in Illinois, it has a 73% success rate:
https://www.lssi.org/post.php?ID=2340
Hiring professionals to do the work that requires full time parenting is all that makes sense. Kids in therapeutic care almost always require a caregiver who has no children of their own.
We have a long tradition in Illinois flowing from the philosophy of the ADA to protect long term care residents, children with learning disabilities, and adults with disabilities that requires the state to provide care in the least restrictive setting possible.
That’s why DCFS is being held in contempt.
The state wants to put this kids in “emergency shelters” and then what? What is the care setting they are going to?
Nowhere. They will be stuck there just as they were stuck in the psych hospital with no chance of getting the care they need and a great chance their situation will worsen until they are re-hospitalized.
The emergency shelters will either be a revolving door for the psych hospitals or — best case scenerio - orphanages by another name.
Comment by James McIntyre Fan Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 1:59 pm
@Horseshoe Voter
DCFS does, in fact, give financial support to parents if it will enable the kids to remain in the home.
If the kids were removed, it was either because they were being abused or the neglect was so severe the kids were in danger. And the state’s attorney and judge agreed.
People are not de facto neglectful just because they are poor. Equating neglect with poverty does a disservice to every impoverished parent out there who is busting their tail to be a good parent.
Comment by James McIntyre Fan Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 2:49 pm
I just want to make 1 clarification. Emergency shelters and psych hospitalizations are 2 separate issues. It’s against DCFS policy to put a kid in an emergency shelter after being discharged from a psych hospitalization. DCFS needs additional placements for youth who are psychiatrically hospitalized, whether that’s specialized foster care or residential placements. DCFS also needs placements for when kids initially come into care & a placement isn’t available (think kids sleeping in offices) or when there’s a sudden change in placement.
Comment by MyTwoCents Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 2:50 pm
Since I don’t see my other remarks from this morning, I’ll just repeat
a key line …
Yes, it’s a broken system but I place the blame at the top Since the judge isn’t getting much emergency action, maybe he should order the Director, and maybe eventually the Governor, to personally house the kids the agency can’t find placements for … and see if that gets any quick action.
Comment by RNUG Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 3:27 pm
@Horseshoe Voter, you are indeed correct that there are significant correlations between poverty and child welfare involvement. Dr. Dana Weiner and others at Chapin Hall have written extensively about it, and I and ICOY fully endorse anti-poverty measures that can help low-income families better care for their children and keep their families intact. Here’s a link to some of that work at Chapin Hall: https://www.chapinhall.org/research/economic-supports-child-welfare/
Comment by Andrea Durbin Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 3:31 pm
Sorry, RNUG, it was sent to spam. Retrieved it. You can always email me if you don’t see your comments.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 3:36 pm
” “Hey, look over there” is a terrible response.”
From what I have seen our of our elected officials for the last 30 years or so I thought that was the standard response they gave.
Comment by btowntruth from forgottonia Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 5:02 pm
Rich, thanks.
Was there a word I used that the filter caught? You can email if there was any you don’t want to publicly say what it was.
Comment by RNUG Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 6:12 pm
The agency is controlled by the BH consent decree. The out of state experts dictate how when where who and why the agency does what it does.
Comment by Another day in government Monday, Mar 28, 22 @ 9:39 pm