SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is in the hot seat after after audits released Tuesday, July 26 revealed laws in the department's operations that put children's welfare at risk.
Acording to the department, the main role of the DCFS is to provide protective and preventive services to children and their families. It protects children who are at risk of harm; remedies family problems that place children at risk of being removed from their homes; provides children with a safe, nurturing environment; and places children in suitable adoptive homes when appropriate.
Appointed in April 2019 by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, DCSF Director Marc Smith has made headlines after receiving 12 accounts of contempt of court for failing to properly place youth in care. Although Smith continues to say he wants the state's department to be a model for the nation, data from the audits tell a completely different story, and Illinois lawmakers are fed up.
"You are delusional," State Sen. Chapin Rose (R) said to Smith in a legislative audit commission hearing Tuesday. "The facts are that other states' directors and agencies don't get held in contempt of court over 10 times for being nonresponsive."
According to a WGN report, eight children have died since December under DCSF care, and the issues don't stop there.
The audits revealed glaring problems with the department's documentation of records. In 98% of the records, DCFS was unable to provide home safety checklists, according to the audits, and 100% of employees and contractors had no receipt or acknowledgment of department policies.
The home safety checklists are used to ensure that the conditions of the child’s home are sufficient to ensure safety and well-being. It is supposed to be completed at least 24 hours before the child returns home, again within five working days after a child is returned home and every month thereafter until the child’s case is closed.
Click/tap here to view the full financial audit of DCFS.
Click/tap here to view the full performance-based audit of DCFS.
When it comes to the physical health of DCSF kids in care, the audit showed 18% of the kids were missing at least one required physical examination, 14% were missing at least one required vision test, 6% are missing at least one hearing screening and 88% are missing at least one dental exam.
Watch the entire Legislative Audit Commission Hearing below:
Additionally, auditors found inconsistent entries in the health issues section for other medical entries. For example, several cases showed multiple birthdates for children.
According to the auditors, "the lack of consistency with the dates of entry for physical examinations makes it difficult to determine if the child has received the required physical exam(s)."
Lack of staffing was another issue auditors revealed.
According to the audit, DCSF determines its number of staff on how many patients they have. For every ten investigations, they hire one investigator, and for every five investigators, they hire one supervisor. Currently, there is a lack of investigators to deal with the caseload. When you are talking about the health and safety of children, that's a big issue.
Another audit of the department will take place next year.