by Attorney Eric D. PuryearA recent article from the Chicago Tribune about a report the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services shows what many people have known for some time – Illinois DCFS is riddled with problems.
From the Chicago Tribune article:
Beset by failures in leadership and in treatment of the state’s most vulnerable children, Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services is hammering out a reform plan after a panel of court-appointed experts determined the agency needs a top-to-bottom overhaul if it hopes to improve the safety and well-being of the thousands of youths in its care. . . the latest development under a decades-old consent decree that allows the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois to monitor the agency.
Illinois DCFS is both excessive and deficient at the same time. It is excessive in that it will often pursue baseless child abuse accusations, causing great harm to children and families. DCFS is also deficient in that it fails to properly care for and protect the children that are actually suffering from abuse. That combination is really the worst possible, as it results in unnecessary intervention in families where there is no abuse or neglect, squandering those resources such that the truly abused children are left unprotected.