SPRINGFIELD (WGEM) – The director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was in the hot seat Tuesday following several audits finding major flaws within the agency. Marc Smith has also been making headlines for several months as a Cook County Judge has found the director in contempt of court 12 times for failing to properly place youth in care.
Smith told the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission that he is building an agency that will serve as a model for the nation. But how is that possible with children left in psychiatric wards for months or dying at the hands of abusive parents?
The Illinois Auditor General’s office documented 30 problems within the agency during a compliance examination spanning from 2018 to June of 2020. Eighteen of the 30 issues were repeated findings that the Auditor General wanted DCFS to fix in the past.
There are approximately 20,000 children in the DCFS system in Illinois, but the audits found the agency rarely tracks where these children are placed or whether they are healthy.
DCFS is required to conduct home safety checklists every time a child returns home. Although, auditors found 98% of the home safety checklists weren’t completed in 2020. Director Smith blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for limiting DCFS investigators.
The Auditor General’s office also found that DCFS did not ensure abused children were receiving the required aftercare services for six months after reuniting with their families. 58% of the cases documented by auditors found the children didn’t receive those services.
“Sometimes you have to be willing and able to drive a business model, drive a team, and drive a system in a direction while the waters are very choppy,” Smith said.
There have been significant improvements with the response on the Abuse and Neglect hotline and new protections created for investigators going into dangerous homes. However, many lawmakers are concerned Smith and other DCFS leaders aren’t focused on key priorities such as the safety and wellness of youth in care.
Auditors said required vaccine data for youth in care was mostly unreliable and many children did not have timely visits with doctors for physical exams, dental treatment, or vision testing.
“Don’t say, ‘Oh well, we’re still fixing the problems from three and a half years ago.’ Let’s start with the basics. When are the basics going to get taken care of,” asked Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet).
Also, no one is forgetting the fact that Smith has been held in contempt of court 12 times for failing to properly place youth in care while they waited months beyond their release dates from psychiatric hospitals. Smith told commission members that the department is challenging those findings and half have already been dropped by the Cook County court.
