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* Capitol News Illinois…
A Cook County judge found DCFS Director Marc Smith in contempt on Thursday.
It’s the ninth time this year that Smith has faced contempt citations for failing to place children in settings that comply with the agency’s recommendations and court orders.
The latest case involves a 15-year-old boy with special needs who remains in a locked psychiatric unit despite a medical release on Jan. 31. The court ordered on March 14 that DCFS move the child to an appropriate placement by March 25. DCFS had not moved the child as of Friday.
Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert represents the boy in court and stated DCFS failed for months to schedule a neuropsychological exam to assess the boy’s special needs. […]
“DCFS is working hard to find placements for these vulnerable children with special needs. Tragically, when Gov. Rauner decimated social services, we were warned that it would be much easier to lose the 500 beds he destroyed than to recreate them again. Advocates warned that these services weren’t like a light switch that could be turned on and off with ease,” [Gov. JB Pritzker’s spokesperson, Jordan Abudayyeh] said.
* CBS 2…
The latest contempt of court finding comes nearly one month after Smith was hit with an eighth contempt of court order over an improperly placed teen, in a case involving a 14-year-old girl who was taken into temporary DCFS custody last September. Since then, she had 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. […]
CBS 2’s Irika Sargent spoke to CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller to get some answers.
Sargent: “This is the ninth time that this has come up and he’s been held in contempt, yet, is anything really happening? Are there really any results?”
Miller: “Not so far. This is not criminal contempt. It’s not doing something that is an embarrassment to the court, or, you know, says a swear word to the judge. That’s criminal contempt, where you can be locked up for six months. This is a civil contempt proceeding, where all they’re doing is trying to get him to do something. In this case, the judge is saying to the director of DCFS: ‘Listen, you are obligated to provide appropriate placements for these kids, and you’re not. We’re up to number nine right now. It’s outrageous. Do your job, sir, and if you don’t, there’s going to be some consequences.’”
* Meanwhile, Molly Parker takes a look at DCFS’ probles with recurring cases…
From January 2018 through June 2020, 33% of all confirmed reports of child maltreatment — about 17,500 cases — involved households with at least two previous investigations, according to DCFS investigative case data obtained and analyzed by The Southern Illinoisan and ProPublica. In far southern and southeastern Illinois, the rural area marked by poverty and industry decline that the Schotts have long called home, the rate of repeat investigations was 42%, the highest in the state. The region is served by DCFS’s Marion office and its satellite offices.
Seen one way, those numbers aren’t surprising: They show that many families that come to the attention of DCFS continue to struggle. But among child welfare officials and academics, the volume of repeat cases is a sign that the system is failing to live up to its mission not only to protect children, but to “increase their families’ capacity to safely care for them.” The pattern of repeated investigations involving a single family or child victim is called “recurrence.”
For decades, child welfare officials across the country have used recurrence rates as an indicator of an agency’s performance.
Illinois has long had one of the highest recurrence rates in the nation, according to comparative data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (The most recent data available is for fiscal 2019.) The data measures confirmed maltreatment that recurs within six months, though both DCFS and the federal government note that there are caveats to the state-by-state comparisons because of differences in how maltreatment is defined and what circumstances prompt an investigation.
Recurrence is complex, driven by a variety of factors. But child welfare experts and families tied up in multiple investigations said DCFS’s resources aren’t adequate. Parents say that classes often aren’t helpful, drug counseling and mental health services can be hard to find, and direct financial aid is insufficient. And those problems have persisted for years. […]
DCFS director Marc Smith said Illinois’ mandates for professionals such as teachers and social workers to report maltreatment accusations are “very aggressive,” leading to increases in confirmed cases of abuse. Nonetheless, he acknowledged the problem, saying the agency will do everything it can to “reduce the recurrence abuse and neglect rate.” […]
Child welfare advocates say that federal and state lawmakers have failed to make more funding available to help families with chronic troubles, and in recent years the department has turned to the default tool for child welfare agencies: removing children from struggling families. That has fueled a 120% surge in the number of children in foster care across the Marion service area over the past decade, even as the total child population in the area has declined. Overall, when children enter foster care in Illinois, they linger there longer than anywhere else in the nation.
*** UPDATE *** Durkin…
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin called on DCFS Director Marc Smith to resign today after it was recently revealed that he had been held in contempt for a ninth time for failing to protect Illinois’ children in care.
“Unfortunately, contempt of court orders against DCFS have become business as usual for the Pritzker administration. Governor Pritzker clearly isn’t bothered by a ninth contempt of court charge against DCFS Director Marc Smith and has done nothing about it – that is simply unacceptable. The Governor has had three and a half years to get this agency under control – he owns this ongoing tragedy. Since the Governor has failed to take action, I call on Director Smith to resign for the good of the children in this state who depend on DCFS.”
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 10:01 am
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I read the whole Molly Parker piece yesterday. Nice piece of journalism. It followed a case over an extended period, and really painted a picture of how frustrating and complex the problem is.
Comment by Southern Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 10:10 am
9x, that is just wild.
Comment by ;) Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 10:30 am
We need orphanages and large group homes that offer placement for these children with also family shelters and parenting classes and all types of rehabilitation and educational facilities. Yes it would be expensive but better for everyone. The money given to large corporations or tax breaks for casinos and weed shops and TIF districts should be reallocated for social services. It is a disgrace. Locked in a mental health hospital after discharged moved 21 times it is cruel and unusual punishment. Now it is on Pritzger
Comment by DuPage Saint Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 10:32 am
I dunno if you can keep seeing this as a liability that an administration, let alone a campaign, can weather.
Even if the reality of sorts is process or unforeseen issues leading to these type of results, that reality is more of an “explaining is losing” type of political reality.
Some of the agency decisions, personnel, even policy choices to stand on… it’s a tough way to be seen in wonky governing
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 10:48 am
No question that this is a liability for the Governor in the fall. But that begs the question, what is my party’s alternative to this? This really shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Both parties agree on the need to improve DCFS. So I look forward to seeing what the GOP nominee puts forth as an alternative.
Comment by SuburbanRepublican Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 10:56 am
Blaming the previous administration’s budget from almost 3 years ago, while touting your own in campaign commercials isn’t a great look.
Comment by ChrisB Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 11:01 am
This again returns to the question of just where DCFS is supposed to place these kids. If there were willing foster parents or some licensed facilities ready to take them, that would be great. Perhaps the judge can make some suggestions.
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 11:23 am
To the Director - it is just another toothless contempt charge - to the children in DCFS world , it is their lives. Does any elected with any juice in Springfield care about this kids ? Seem like an opportunity for a legislator with a heart and some vision could be a REAL Hero here…
Comment by StrawPollBusDriver Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 11:40 am
Suing the Director does nothing to find the families, people, and organizations willing/able to provide these services. Sitting in court, GA hearing, or state admin meeting anyone can talk about what should happen, make promises, complain, or threaten. Who actually does the real face to face work? Put some serious money into the rates the state pays for services and providers will appear. Buildings, 24 hour staff coverage, profess staff, services, agreements, support contracts, insurance, vehicles, changing regulations, licenses, equipment, all cost money to start and maintain. Until the rates are right why should a potential provider step into the DCFS legal landmine? 500 beds? That barely scratches the need. But go cheap, yeah that’ll work.
Comment by zatoichi Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 12:06 pm
Indefensible Smith needs to resign immediately.
Comment by Lake Villa Township Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 1:32 pm
I read that story and it was difficult. But the father should be capable of getting up and preparing his kids for school. Fortuntately only a few more years and they should be able to be responsible enough to do it themselves.
Absolutely the classes required to get kids back should all come with transportation provided (whether that’s a school bus or van or …) especially when the commute for such a thing is more than 20 miles, or an online provision should be available. or a visiting teacher that brings the info to the parent and goes over it.
Also how did Cook County fix its issues? It still has a lot of poor people, so unfortunately it didn’t fix it by improving family circumstances.
Comment by cermak_rd Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 1:47 pm
=== DCFS director Marc Smith said Illinois’ mandates for professionals such as teachers and social workers to report maltreatment accusations are “very aggressive,” ===
Marc Smith will be remembered as the first DCFS director to complain that too many adults are reporting child abuse.
These are cases, as Parker points out, where child abuse is actually happening and being substantiated repeatedly by his own investigators.
It’s like blaming the umpires because your pitchers are giving up a lot of home run balls because…the umpires noted the ball went over the fence.
Hey Director: the problem is that the abuse is happening, not that abusers are getting caught.
Comment by James McIntyre Fan Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 2:19 pm
Great follow up piece by Molly Parker:
https://thesouthern.com/news/local/opinion-molly-parker-what-we-lose-when-we-conflate-child-abuse-and-neglect/article_81c20654-2286-5948-a2a1-4b1115457d0d.html
James McIntyre fan, are we talking abuse or neglect because those are 2 very different things.
I’m no Marc Smith fan, but 1) if the mandated reporter rules are stricter in Illinois, that’s a statement, not a complaint. If more kids come to the attention of the system more kids end up in the system. 2) at this point the contempt charges are simply the judge playing games. The underlying issues have not changed and even if there were unlimited funds tomorrow would still not change for a while. It’s always easier to destroy then build.
Comment by MyTwoCents Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 8:03 pm
Still waiting for a judge to get mad / creative enough to order the agency Director and Deputy Directors to PERSONALLY house these kids until proper placements are found.
Bet you would see some action then …
Comment by RNUG Monday, Apr 25, 22 @ 10:00 pm
I go to see each day some blogs and information sites to read articles or reviews, however
this website gives quality based posts.
Comment by Clarissa Friday, Apr 29, 22 @ 4:52 pm