Today’s must-read
Thursday, Jun 20, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Way back in 1976, DCFS entered into a consent decree that was designed to make sure Latinx kids in the state’s foster parent system had caregivers and social workers who spoke Spanish. You can click here for some background on the Burgos Consent Decree.
But the agency has never gotten its act together. And more than 40 years later, DCFS is still not in compliance. ProPublica Illinois…
The agency’s records show nearly 300 possible Burgos violations since 2005. That number is almost certainly an undercount because basic information about a case, including race, ethnicity and language preferences, frequently has been unreliable and, in some instances, was deliberately falsified by staffers.
DCFS cannot provide a consistent count of children of Spanish-speaking parents who are currently in foster homes where Spanish is not spoken. The agency initially provided data that showed more than 50 children in recent placements that could violate the consent decree.
DCFS spokesman Jassen Strokosch later said there were only two violations. In May, he said the agency performed a case-by-case review and reported that the correct figure was fewer than 25.
Finally, this week, Strokosch acknowledged “difficulties providing accurate numbers.” He added that now, “from top to bottom, we’re looking at better ways to do that reporting.”
Some placements may appear to violate Burgos but don’t because the agency might have prioritized other factors, such as the medical needs of the child, above language, he said. Other placements may violate agency policy but not Burgos, because the consent decree covers families in the Chicago area but DCFS policy applies the order statewide.
Still, Strokosch said, complying with Burgos and ensuring that Spanish-speaking families across Illinois receive services in their own language is a priority of DCFS acting director Marc Smith, who was appointed to the position in April by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Smith is the agency’s 13th leader in the last decade. […]
For an agency that has long struggled with high-profile child deaths and crushing caseloads, it’s easy to see how Burgos has been ignored, said Rubén Castillo, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the first federal court monitor on the consent decree. DCFS, he said, has been so overwhelmed by responding to crises that it has not prioritized issues specific to Latinos, who make up just 8% of the more than 16,000 children in state care.
It’s a long story, but it’s definitely worth a read.
- James McIntyre Fan - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 1:24 pm:
Which is more disturbing:
A. Children’s Home + Aid placed a Latino infant in a home where not only no Spanish is spoken, but no English, only Slovakian.
B. Caseworkers for Children’s Home + Aid didn’t even know their own foster parents only spoke Slovakian at home.
C. They’ve crushed all hope of this child being returned to his father.
D. DCFS refuses to criticize the practice.
E. All of the above.
- Responsa - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 1:30 pm:
What the “parents” do and want is not always best for the helpless and innocent children involved. The recent tragedy involving AJ Freund has opened many eyes to the problems with trying to monitor and keep troubled and dysfunctional families intact. So I know that I read this whole article with different eyes than I would have just a few months ago. The safety and security of children should take precedence over all other factors (including language). The same “parents” as described here loading multiple children over multiple years into the same DCFS sysem that they apparently believed had already failed them is abhorrent. The policy ideal of only utilizing matching multi-lingual case workers and teachers and fosters may simply not be possible or realistic with the current stress on the DCFS system. What a mess.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 1:45 pm:
===D. DCFS refuses to criticize the practice.===
Perhaps because Jassen Strokosch used to work there? https://www.childrenshomeandaid.org/author/jassen-strokosch/
- James McIntyre Fan - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 2:47 pm:
@Responsa -
The father in this story did nothing wrong. His only crime appears to be being poor and brown.
How many story’s has Capfax posted where DCFS left children living in squalor because they could not remove kids just because parents were poor?
This dad was working. He had a modest home, but it wasn’t uninhabitable, according to the story.
- Proud - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 3:04 pm:
I have worked within the Child Welfare system for over 30 years. We always try to improve and get better on behalf of children and families. I invite the reporters and all on this blog to go work for child welfare. Its easy to play monday morning quarterback but a lot more difficult to get out on the field.
- Juvenal - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 3:31 pm:
@Proud -
It is not “Monday Morning quarterbacking.” Rich and the commenters have regularly lauded the work of the DCFS frontline.
The descriptor “Monday morning QB” fits only when applied to mistakes that are only clearly visible from hindsight.
Burgos has effectively been federal law for 40 years, but for the last few years it has been ignored.
And DCFS apparently does not see any harm here. There is a hearing to terminate this father’s parent rights today.
Tell me honestly, as a veteran caseworker: have you ever placed a child with a family and not known what language they speak?
- RNUG - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 3:57 pm:
Long read.
Didn’t change my mind much about DCFS. The problems are deep rooted; keep hashing over the same or related issues year after year after year. I don’t know the actual count, but they probably have more consent decrees in place than any other State agency.
DCFS has almost always been understaffed and overworked. Often been mis-directed or mis-managed, especially the last 10 years or so. They did work better at one time, but that was mostly in the 50’s and 60’s.
I say this from the viewpoint of having had multiple extended family members work for DCFS, including back to it’s days as a division under Mental Health, for a cummulative total of something like 80 or 90 person-years.
Management consistency is what is needed. As I have previously suggested, the agency Director needs to be appointed / approved by the GA to something like a 10 year term and only the GA should have the power to remove them.
- Last Bull Moose - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 4:10 pm:
After the recent child deaths, DCFS will take more marginal cases into custody. This is a recurring pattern.
Yes the caseworker should know the language spoken in the home. This may still have been the best placement available.
DCFS is woefully short of good foster homes. The number of children in care is going back up. So the situation will get worse.
- Thomas Paine - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 4:37 pm:
@RNUG -
I think the answer is eight. Although there are really only a few that come into play often: BH, Burgos, Norman and Dupuy.
Yeah, the agency is underfunded, but has there ever been a case where the department has placed a child from a non-Hispanic family into a home where only Spanish was spoken at home?
It is true that Latinx children make up a relatively smaller percentage of cases. At it’s probably also true that Latinx families make up a relatively small percentage of foster families. I don’t think either of those data points are a coincidence.
In this case, we have relatives that appear to have been more than capable of serving as a foster family and they were not even considered.
- Last Bull Moose - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 4:48 pm:
I would tweak RNUG’s management suggestion. Give the Director a ten year term, but they can be removed by the Governor with the consent of the Senate.
Some Directors look good on paper but are poor in practice. The Governor needs a way to remove the people who fail.
- growth hacking agency - Thursday, Jun 20, 19 @ 10:08 pm:
Will there be a part 2…?