Audit of Illinois DCFS finds multiple failures

[May 13, 2022] By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A newly released audit of Illinois’ troubled child welfare agency shows it has failed to provide adequate medical care for children and has not properly tracked possible neglect cases.

The Illinois Auditor General's review of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), which covered the 2020 calendar year, also found failures to conduct home safety checks before children are returned to their parents.

The audit comes just a week after a report that criticized the Pritzker administration’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans home that killed 36 residents.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has continued to stand behind the head of the agency, Marc Smith, who has been held in contempt of court nine times for failing to find suitable placements for children in DCFS care.

“The head of the Department of Children and Family Services and I and the judge, all are frustrated with the challenges that we face for our most vulnerable children,” Pritzker said at a news conference earlier this year.

Pritzker and lawmakers have increased the DCFS budget by at least $100 million each year since 2019, including by $250 million this year.
 

State Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, said the problems at DCFS are not due to a lack of funding.

“We continue to have very significant funding flowing to DCFS with very little accountability for those dollars and the right performance measurements to make sure they are spent in the most effective way,” Spain said.

Two Illinois children recently died, an 8-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl, after the families were contacted by DCFS.

In the weeks before 8-year-old Navin Jones of Peoria died, DCFS had received a hotline call that the child didn’t go to school and was bruised and malnourished. His parents have since been charged with murder.

In the latest report on the department’s plan to address investigator caseloads, Smith reported a statewide rolling vacancy percentage of 21%, with a goal of reducing it to 6% or less. The agency pointed to the pandemic and a labor crisis, coupled with rising child abuse investigations as obstacles to meeting that goal.

Spain said the continued problems at DCFS are a tragedy.

“What is it going to take to raise the attention for Gov. Pritzker that we have massive failures in this department and lives are literally being lost as a result of his leadership,” Spain said.

“What is it going to take to raise the attention for Gov. Pritzker that we have massive failures in this department and lives are literally being lost as a result of his leadership,” Spain said.