More DCFS problems
Tuesday, Apr 2, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* ABC 7…
About a dozen young children, including a 2-year-old, and an elderly woman were found Monday afternoon living in squalor in a house in south suburban Dixmoor, Illinois, police said.
Police removed the children and woman from the house. The elderly woman’s daughter and another woman were in custody late Monday with charges pending, police said. Four of the children were released to their parents. […]
Investigators said they called the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) as soon as they arrived Monday afternoon
However, [Dixmoor Police Chief Ron Burge] said DCFS did not respond. After waiting for three hours, police removed the children themselves.
“I’m a little upset we’ve been here three hours. DCFS has not responded properly,” Burge said.
Ugh.
* Meanwhile…
Workers with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) had contact with the family of Byron Casanova, and the child himself, numerous times in the months leading up to his suicide on March 23, 2019.
According to the report, DCFS investigators actually had interaction with the family years ago.The department first opened an investigation on February 3rd, 2016.
A concerned person reported the mother was taking the child’s ADHD medication and had slapped him in the face saying that she hated him. DCFS looked into the claims and ultimately came to the conclusion that there was no wrong doing. […]
Throughout February and March, DCFS workers conducted 11 home visits, and several visits to the children at school and doctor’s appointments. During that time, they found no signs of abuse or neglect toward Casanova or his brothers, but did note additional school absences and a messy home.
The very last home visit by DCFS took place on March 19, 2019, just four days before Casanova passed away.
- A Jack - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 9:53 am:
Dixmoor is 17 miles from the Loop. The Loop area does have DCFS offices. But they couldn’t get anyone to respond in three hours?
- Cubs in '16 - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 9:55 am:
===A concerned person reported the mother was taking the child’s ADHD medication and had slapped him in the face saying that she hated him.===
Unless DCFS could prove this statement false, it most certainly qualifies as mental and physical abuse. Either the laws surrounding removal of a child need to change or DCFS caseworkers’ judgment needs to improve. Or both…
- tinsel town - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 9:59 am:
Thanks to the Quinn Administration and then Director Calica, evening and midnight staffing @ DCFS consist of a skeleton crew. They don’t have the manpower after 5pm.
Considering Cook County has the largest population in the state, you would think Quinn would have not tampered with child care protection.
It is the price Quinn placed on child safety.
- Honeybear - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 10:01 am:
When you starve an agency of resources
When you install incompetent Management
you get
at best
a dysfunctional agency
but most likely a
non functioning agency
At the same time
There is no excuse for this.
Our children must come first.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 10:03 am:
–However, [Dixmoor Police Chief Ron Burge] said DCFS did not respond. After waiting for three hours, police removed the children themselves.–
Was there any further contact during those 3 hours, such as “we’re on our way” or “we can’t make it?”
What, exactly, was DCFS doing after notification?
- tinsel town - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 10:10 am:
If any of you think you can do better or demand better, I suggest you spend $70,000 on a Social Word Degree, and then saddle up that pony.
DCFS is always looking for staff…..
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 10:14 am:
===If any of you think you can do better===
So, no criticism of DCFS ever unless I go get a specialized degree and work there.
I suppose I can’t criticize the president or the governor either because I’ve never been elected to high office.
Nice response there, duder.
- Lincoln Lad - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 10:30 am:
PQ has been gone over4 years. Are we sure we shouldn’t be blaming Blago… or Ryan… or Edgar… or Thompson? How about Walker? Or Oglivie? Maybe Stratton?
- Mapquest and a Watch - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 10:33 am:
There is a DCFS field office in Harvey.
It is four minutes from Dixmoor.
Also, officers say they called as soon as they arrived at 3 pm.
Now, I did not spend $70K on a “Social Word Degree,” but I do know that 3 pm comes before 5 pm and is not in the “evening.”
Also, not sure how much advanced training it takes to pick up the phone or return calls to the police department.
It may be the case that the Harvey field Office is understaffed, and I expect that Rep. Feigenholtz and the lawmakers for Dixmoor will he following up with the new director.
But it also does not take advanced training to forward your phone.
- A Jack - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 10:43 am:
This is slightly off topic, but I think Illinois should offer some kind of scholarship program for college students to get a MSW degree. I know a teenager that expressed an interest in working at DCFS someday, but his family is fairly destitute and I suspect he won’t be able to afford any college.
- Cubs in '16 - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 10:50 am:
-A Jack-
That teen would probably be eligible for MAP (if attending an in-state school) and PELL grants through Bachelor level degree. There are fewer financial aid options at the graduate level but low interest loans are how I paid for mine.
- BobO - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 11:13 am:
A Jack, your topic is right on. There is a shortage of social service professionals due to low wages and the high cost of obtaining a degree.
There are plenty of folks who would go for a career helping others.
However, the economics of borrowing thousands to get an degree for a job that often pays less than $35k per year does not make sense. Absent scholarships or other support, college kids are going for degrees that have a better ROI.
Combine this with an across-the-board underfunding of the Illinois service system and you end up with insufficient number of folks to help prevent these kind of tragedies.
- Downstate - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 11:21 am:
Sure glad that Catholic Charities no longer provides this service to the state. DCFS has improved their services so much since CC was booted. /s/
- Mapquest, a Watch and Google - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 11:24 am:
DCFS jobs do not “often pay less than $35K per year.”
DCFS pays social workers better than just about anyone else, except maybe CPS and hospitals.
DCFS is understaffed, but it’s not because people do not want the jobs because they are underpaid. It’s because state government does not fund enough positions.
- Cassandra - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 11:28 am:
Wait a sec. I have to say something here. DCFS is required to respond to maltreatment reports within 24 hours. There are presumably requirements for immediate response in certain safety situations, but these kids were already safe-they were with the police. Police can take protective custody, just as DCFS can. If the Dixmoor officers were in a hurry, they could have taken the kids into custody and transported them over to the Harvey office themselves.
DCFS deploys hundreds of investigators daily around the state on a range of safety situations.
I don’t know what the current staffing situation is, but an instant response on all cases, besides being unnecessary, would require a huge and expensive staff expansion-so huge that I doubt the citzenry would want to pay for it. And generally speaking, I believe the statistics show an overall timely response.
- Last Bull Moose - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 11:44 am:
DCFS cannot take custody simply on an unsupported allegation of abuse. They start an investigation and try to sort out what is happening. Getting to the truth is seldom easy.
I agree that DCFS has been underfunded and poorly led for years. From where I sat, PQ provided as much funding as he could. Finding a good Director is hard.
- Honeybear - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 11:46 am:
Child Protection Specialist starts at $52,524
That being said, I don’t know if there is a trainee position before you get to that.
Child Protection Associate Specialist is 47,628
From the Agreement between AFSCME and State of IL
(The Contract)
So MapQuest I believe is correct, it’s not the pay. It’s the available positions.
- Red Skeptic - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 11:49 am:
This is really tragic. I hope the new Director is able to address this ASAP. They need to get better and responding to kids in need.
- JoanP - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 11:50 am:
=Unless DCFS could prove this statement false=
Who was the “concerned person”? Someone with a grudge? Someone who was anonymous? How do you prove a negative?
It’s easy to be wise after the fact.
- Stuff Happens - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 12:18 pm:
I think three hours can be reasonable. Sometimes there’s more than one fire to fight, and you can’t split workers in half.
What the article doesn’t say is what the DCFS response was. The police chief said “I’m a little bit upset. We’ve been here three hours, and DCFS has not responded properly.”
I don’t know if he’s just annoyed because DCFS couldn’t come right away and his officers were stuck there, or was it that DCFS blew them off?
To my gut it feels like the former, but my gut’s been wrong before.
Too little information to pass any kind of real judgment.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 12:20 pm:
–Sure glad that Catholic Charities no longer provides this service to the state. DCFS has improved their services so much since CC was booted.–
Catholic Charities was contracted to investigate neglect and abuse allegations? When was that?
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 12:45 pm:
==Child Protection Specialist starts at $52,524
That being said, I don’t know if there is a trainee position before you get to that. Child Protection Associate Specialist is 47,628==
According to Andrea Durbin, CEO Illinois Collaboration on Youth, the child welfare workers from private contractors make one third to on half what workers from DCFS make. Doing the math that is minimum wage to $12 an hour.
- Mapquest, a Watch and Google - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 1:00 pm:
Last Bill Moose you are incorrect. Google “temporary protective custody.”
A law enforcement officer, doctor, or DCFS can take temporary protective custody of a child if they believe that danger is imminent either from a caregiver or because the caregiver is unable to provide care.
There does not even necessarily need to be an allegation of abuse or neglect: parent dies in a car crash or from a heart attack; single parent is arrested; you get the picture.
In this case, four children were returned almost immediately to their parents.
- Cassandra - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 1:38 pm:
It’s time for those child welfare workers in the private sector to start organizing. One wonders why this hasn’t happened already. And, if it has, why it failed.
- Last Bull Moose - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 1:48 pm:
Mapquest- I stand corrected. I was thinking of long term custody.
- Left Leaner - Tuesday, Apr 2, 19 @ 3:58 pm:
===Thanks to the Quinn Administration and then Director Calica, evening and midnight staffing @ DCFS consist of a skeleton crew. They don’t have the manpower after 5pm.===
Not to get off point from the fact that police made the call around 3 PM…and not looking to blame past administrations, etc. (counterproductive)…but the point above is actually a good one and worth the attention of the new DCFS Director. Eliminating the evening shift, particularly in Cook County, was a BIG mistake.
- Paceman - Wednesday, Apr 3, 19 @ 7:44 am:
This is nothing new. I began my career in L.E. in 1991 and we had the same problems then. I knew when I responded to a call that required a DCFS response that I would be waiting for hours for a case worker to arrive.
- Truth - Wednesday, Apr 3, 19 @ 3:57 pm:
The unprovoked denials and circling of the wagons at DCFS,sweeping another death under the rug with lies as reported by the office of communications,lies with began with the Regional Adm. and her cohorts out of the Harvey field office.
The issue of hiding behind the intake of the # of investigations in order not to follow basic investigative protocols. Even when they are paid cash overtime to double dip, they still make basic errors, all due too to lack of not caring to learn. All complaints, no learning: The new Director should not rely on the same old retreads within the agency. Especially not those out of the Harvey Office, Emerald Office or Deerfield Office. They all lie to protect themselves.