* Tribune editorial board…

In March, Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith was cited an eighth time on a contempt of court order for failing to appropriately place a teen who was in the agency’s care into the proper setting. What should be done to address the agency’s shortage of proper shelter for children in DCFS care? What other reforms do you believe are needed at DCFS?

* Gov. JB Pritzker’s response…

Former Governor Bruce Rauner decimated social services at DCFS, intentionally cutting 500 residential beds and refusing to pass a budget for over 700 days. Making improvements to this state agency is not like flipping a light switch: it requires ongoing investments and efforts.

As Governor, I’ve sought outside input on strategies and tactics to improve DCFS. As a result of those recommendations, we’ve increased DCFS’s budget by over $340 million, launched aggressive efforts to hire hundreds of additional staff, and eliminated the DCFS abuse and neglect reporting hotline backlog––reducing the percentage of calls requiring callbacks from 50% in 2019 to under 1% now.

DCFS has also overhauled its technology, led trainings for every staff member, and is working hard to create needed placements for children. Importantly, DCFS has bolstered its provider network and intends to hire an additional 360 DCFS staff this year and next. The agency has made improvements––but there’s still work to do––and those who seek to use our most vulnerable as political pawns don’t deserve to lead our state.

There’s still a lot of work to do, governor. A lot.

* Richard Irvin…

It’s heartbreaking to see a state agency repeatedly endanger the lives of our most vulnerable children. The public has a right to know how long J.B. Pritzker has known about the horrific problems inside his agency and why he defends his hand-picked director who continues to be found in contempt of court. This isn’t a partisan issue; it’s an issue of incompetence, corruption and lack of compassion. We need new leadership at the top in Illinois to fix the problems at DCFS.

Priority one: Fire the current director of DCFS who, as of April, has been found in contempt of court nine times for failing to protect our most vulnerable children. We need competent leaders who can drive improvements inside DCFS, and partners in the General Assembly willing to remove any barriers to reform.

Fire the director and hope for the best, apparently. And since the contempt fines are being tossed out by the appellate courts, I’m kinda wondering if these contempt findings are really worth anything.

* Gary Rabine…

As Governor, I will immediately initiate a thorough review of the operations of DCFS. From that review I will make an assessment of every aspect of DCFS and from that assessment make the reforms necessary. Reforming DCFS will be one of my top priorities as Governor.

There is no agency of Government more important than the one that protects children and there is no bigger failure of the Pritzker Administration in its management of DCFS.

Hooray. Another blue ribbon panel.

* Paul Schimpf…

Like so many other agencies, the Department of Children and Family Services is missing leadership from the Governor’s Mansion that demands results and holds agency directors accountable. I am open to establishing a dedicated revenue stream that will fund the necessary shelters for DCFS care.

Money is not really an issue at DCFS these days, unless you cut taxes. Then it becomes an issue everywhere in government.

* Jesse Sullivan…

The crisis at DCFS is very personal to me and my family – my wife Monique and I made the decision to be foster parents and have welcomed two incredible foster kids into our home. Other politicians will say they’re pro-life or pro-family – we’re living it.

The problems at DCFS, sadly, go deeper than a quick fix. It takes a culture change at the top, and the solution isn’t just going to be throwing more money at a broken system - they’ve tried throwing more money at the system, but nothing changes. Fixing this broken system is going to require partnering with and empowering the faith and civic leaders in our state; they are the key to solving this crisis. It will also require recruiting great families to foster our most vulnerable children, which is something I am uniquely suited to do, as a foster parent.

The state already partners with faith and civic groups. Outside groups deliver the services. And while being a foster parent is a hugely commendable endeavor, fostering children with such severe violent behavioral issues that they wound up stuck in psychiatric hospitals with no place to go is a whole other story.

Darren Bailey didn’t answer the Trib’s questions.