Study Shows DCFS Left Kids In Danger; Pritzker Promises Reform

CHICAGO, IL — Governor JB Pritzker is calling for a complete overhaul of the state's Department of Children and Family Services after a report he commissioned showed that the agency's intense focus on keeping families intact often caused it to leave children in situations that put them in extreme danger.

“Under my administration, we will change the direction of DCFS. I am committing the full force of this office to this work. There is nothing more important to me as governor than getting this right,” Pritzker said in statement. “We have the opportunity right now to make dramatic improvements in how DCFS functions and dedicate ourselves every day to improving this work. I am committed to carrying out this overhaul as quickly and effectively as possible, and ensuring that DCFS has the necessary resources and support to do that work.”

The report, released Wednesday, documented systemic problems within the agency, as well as the toothlessness of the laws that govern it. Researchers focused on the Intact Family Services unit within the agency, which relies on a network of private organizations that provide services for families who have been investigated by DCFS, but whose problems did not warrant removing a child from the home or putting a child in foster care. In Illinois, child welfare policy emphasizes avoiding removing a child from a home. Families are not required to accept the services and caseworkers have little power over those decisions.

The six-week study highlighted the cases of three unnamed children, one of whom died. In one example, a woman with a history of abuse investigations by DCFS ignored agreements not to let her child be near her boyfriend. According to the report, the child who died was killed by his mother's boyfriend.

Pritzker called for the investigation in March, before the beating death of A.J. Freund, the 5-year-old boy who died in April and whose parents are facing charges for his death. He was responding to several high-profile deaths related to DCFS investigations, including that of 17-month-old Sema'j Crosby, whose body was found under a couch in a Joliet home.

The report, produced by the University of Chicago's Chapin Hall, also showed commonly known problems within DCFS, including a deep lack of communication within the intact family services department and overburdened staff. However, interviews with caseworkers also showed that they when they couldn't handle additional cases or take on complex ones, they often passed them off to the department. They also expressed frustration and futility because they believed prosecutors would not remove children from homes despite their recommendations. Because of this, caseworkers often pushed aside their suspicions of abuse and neglect.

Across the nation, the study showed, the death rate from child maltreatment was 2.36 per 100,000 children in the population in 2016. Despite DCFS's issues, Illinois' rate is actually somewhat lower — 2.16 per 100,000 children. Researchers also found that the number of child maltreatment deaths in Illinois dereased every year since 2014, though the number of child abuse or neglect victims has increased.

“In the weeks I’ve been at DCFS, it’s clear that the department is facing a number of challenges, many that are decades old, but our team is committed to serving the state’s most vulnerable children – and I know that everyone in the child welfare system wants to do better,” DCFS Director Marc Smith said in a statement. “The experts at Chapin Hall provided a strong guide for changing our culture, structure and approach, and we’ll move swiftly on these recommendations. My team has also developed immediate action to keep children safe.”

Authors of the Chapin Hall report offered nine suggestions to fix the failing agency:

• develop and refine a protocol for closing intact cases;
• clarify goals and expectations across staff roles;
• utilize evidence-based approaches to preventive case work;
• improve the quality of supervision;
• adjust the preventive service array to meet the needs of the population;
• restructure preventive services, including intact;
• work with courts and State’s Attorneys to refine criteria for removal in complex and chronic family cases;
• redesign assessment and intake processes; and
• direct attention to cases at greatest risk of severe harm.

DCFS has said it will take several immediate actions, including opening a review of cases, forming a crisis intervention team, and expanding training and retraining of staff. Smith said his agency will also take action to address the study's recommendations.