DCFS held kids in hospitals for months beyond doctors’ orders
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services held kids in psychiatric hospitals for far longer than needed because the agency couldn’t find them housing.
The state’s child protection agency is finally housing hundreds of children who for months had nowhere to stay but a psychiatric hospital.
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services reported the number of kids unnecessarily held in psychiatric hospitals is down by over 80%.
A 2021 WGN investigation found 356 kids were hospitalized longer than medically necessary, with the average child staying 55 days beyond what a doctor recommended.
DCFS Director Marc Smith had repeatedly been held in contempt of court on account of the agency’s failure to place kids in appropriate housing. Ten contempt citations were overruled Nov. 30 by an appellate court, but a child guardian pledged an appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.
Kids that find suitable housing end up in foster care 40% of the time. Foster care can be far from ideal, according to a published report.
CBS Chicago found 9 out of 10 DCFS investigations into foster parent abuse or neglect came back as “unfounded.” But 14 former DCFS kids came forward to say just because the department ruled them as “unfounded,” doesn’t mean the allegations were not true.
James McIntyre is one of the children ignored when he tried to tell DCFS about being neglected.
“The department has a history of not believing the kids,” McIntyre said. “I was abused – physical abuse. I was sexually abused. I was neglected. I was starved.”
Part of the problem is that Illinois’ budget priorities are not on social services, such as DCFS. Those services have been crowded out by pension spending. Illinois dedicates about 27% of its budget to public pensions.
Since 2000, state pension spending has grown by 584%. Spending on a range of core services, such as DCFS funding for vulnerable kids, has been cut by 20%.
Solving the pension crisis would save the state billions that could be used for the services Illinoisans expect for their taxes, such as protecting the 21,000 children under DCFS’ care.
The Illinois Policy Institute has advocated a hold-harmless pension plan that guarantees existing state retiree benefits will be there when needed through small adjustments to the growth rate of future benefits.