* Chicago Reader…

When James McIntyre advocates for queer kids facing abuse and neglect in the state’s foster care system, he draws on painful personal experience of his own time in the system—and the abuse he endured. McIntyre was only three years old when his parents’ drug use and neglect forced Illinois child protection authorities to place him and his four siblings in foster care. A couple eventually adopted him and two siblings years later, but that home wasn’t the solace he was promised.

He tells the Reader that after he turned seven years old, his adoptive mother would beat and starve him. And her biological son raped him for years. After escaping that home by feigning mental illness, McIntrye says he was shuffled between foster homes until he turned 21 and aged out of the system.

Amid all the trauma and abuse, McIntyre says being gay made his circumstances even worse. From the state’s Department of Children and Family Services, from foster agencies, and from foster families themselves, he says he was routinely told to hide the fact that he was gay. “Being gay was seen as a safety risk,” he says. “And so instead, they force the gay kids in the closet and say, ‘We don’t have any gay kids.’ Because then it would be seen as an unsafe situation to acknowledge that one of their kids is gay.”

In February, the state’s auditor general reported that the Illinois DCFS failed in myriad ways to adequately care for LBGTQ+ kids. The report found “a lack of reliable and consistent information regarding LGBTQ youth in the care of the department'’ and “a lack of monitoring and oversight of private agency compliance” with its policies and procedures related to LGBTQ+ youth. […]

The 16 recommendations in the auditor’s report mostly target the agency’s lack of enforcement and oversight of its policies related to LGBTQ+ youth, known as Appendix K. But the report also states that the agency has no formal process for identifying LGBTQ+ youth, with housing placement practices being similarly opaque. […]

In a statement provided to the Reader, the agency said that it has taken “aggressive measures to improve the services and care provided to LGBTQI+ youth since the time period covered by this audit.” A representative for the department says the audit additionally doesn’t reflect the current state of the department, as it uses data mostly from 2017 and 2018.

* OK, but have things improved since then? I asked the Illinois ACLU’s Ed Yohnka that question…

Generally I would say that the experiences of most LGBTQ youth in care have not significantly improved over the time we have been investigating their experiences – since 2017. We acknowledge DCFS has done some work to address this population’s needs since the time of the audit, but that work has not yet translated into any better experiences for young people in state care.

*** UPDATE *** DCFS…

The Department of Children and Family Services, under its current leadership, has taken aggressive measures to improve the services and care provided to LGBTQI+ youth since the time period covered by this audit. The progress is outlined in our audit responses, and DCFS continues to work diligently to provide resources and guidance to its staff and external partners to ensure that we meet the needs of this vulnerable population.

Background…

As part of our commitment to providing services across the state, DCFS has created a new hiring plan and is working to fill every vacancy as quickly as possible. The newly created position of Chief for LGBTQI+ Services has recently been filled.

This audit was conducted in 2019 using data primarily from 2017 and 2018.

Recent efforts include maintaining and expanding a list of providers, agencies, and organizations across the state that are available to meet the needs of LGBTQI+ youth. These providers include affirming therapists, LGBTQI+ organizations and agencies, and health care professionals that provide gender-affirming hormone therapy.

In June 2020, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Clinical Division and Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion began a coordinated effort to expand programmatic support for LGBTQI+ youth in care.

The Clinical Division completes staffing and consultations, while providing clinical recommendations regarding interventions, resources, and resource linkages for the youth in care.

The DEI LGBTQI+ Services team is addressing competency training needs and recruitment of affirming caregivers, continuing to build resources, and investigating all claims of discrimination as it relates to our LGBTQI+ youth and their families.

The Clinical Division and DEI are working closely together to ensure that DCFS is following best practices for LGBTQI+ youth and their families.