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* CBS 2…
The death of a 2-year-old Chicago boy, tragically beaten to death while under the watch of the Department of Children and Family Services, has sparked concern.
Several stakeholders agree that in recent years, DCFS has been violating the terms of a court ordered consent decree that was supposed to bring caseloads down and help protect kids, like the 2-year-old Ja’hir Gibbons who died last week.
It has been 31 years since Ben Wolf, of the Illinois ACLU, brought a class action lawsuit against the Illinois DCFS that led to the consent decree mandating lower caseloads for investigators and increased reporting requirements. […]
As recently as two weeks ago, the ACLU, which monitors the consent decree, testified before state legislators for help.
“Not only was the department broken and chaotic, but it stopped sharing basic information with us,” Wolf said.
It stopped sharing information?
* I checked with the Illinois ACLU for clarification. Here’s Ed Yohnka…
It is an issue with DCFS that has gotten progressively worse over the past few years. Late last year, the federal court overseeing the BH decree approved a special master to facilitate the exchange of information between the ACLU and DCFS. That has helped this process.
But it is not just sharing information with us. There is other information that DCFS used to make publicly available that no longer is produced. We are hopeful it will improve with new leadership.
* So, what other information is not being shared?…
The simplest thing to point to might be the Executive Statistical Summary, which starting in the late 1990s or early 2000s was made public on-line (at the urging of the ACLU, which had always gotten access to it through the litigation). It included a lot of information each month about how many kids were investigated, how many brought into custody and the placement of each child. In the past few years the State stopped putting it online, and when our counsel asked for it they refused to give us most of this information.
My understanding is that we’re still not getting a lot of it.
Thoughts?
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 10:45 am
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===In the past few years the State stopped putting it online, and when our counsel asked for it they refused to give us most of this information.===
The destruction of social services under Bruce Rauner is baring fruit, I see.
Comment by PublicServant Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 10:53 am
Bunker mentality is a great stance for the department charged with caring for our most vulnerable kids.
I’d like to know more about what ‘a few years’ means. *Absolutely speculation* but my guess would be the back half of 2015.
Comment by lakeside Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 11:01 am
Unless DCFS totally botched a computer system “upgrade “, any information that was collected and distributed before should still be available. Backward compatibility is a requirement for a new system.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 11:02 am
And this is just another reason for me to continue to support the ACLU.
Comment by illini Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 11:11 am
When has DCFS ever gotten it right?
Comment by Todd Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 11:39 am
Is he referring to this report? http://www.nprillinois.org/post/dcfs-releases-report-after-9-month-delay-lawmakers-demand-transparency
Comment by Kyle Hillman Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 12:04 pm
Not many upgrades over tje last few years have been backwards compatible. Look at IES. What they did was start the new system and no longer make changes in old. The 2 systems do not work together or communicate at all. Not the only system to do so.
Comment by Union thug Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 12:17 pm
Bty the way, DCFS doesn’t do the upgrades. Thats all on DoIT for the last couple uears
Comment by Union thug Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 12:23 pm
In my fantasy, the judge overseeing the consent decree says: “based on a lack of progress on the orders, I find the Director of the agency in contempt and sentence them to appear at the sheriff’s Office Friday afternoon to spend a weekend contemplating what they are going to do at the office on Monday”
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 12:29 pm
DCFS has changed CIO’s probably more often than Directors. I recall one CIO years ago that was more interested in the length of IT employee bathroom breaks than in getting the systems upgraded.
Comment by A Jack Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 12:43 pm
All the directors?
DCFS hasn’t vhad a director stay long enough. That coupled with no funding for 2+ years has made for a bad problem.
How this is handled could be JBs veterans home if he don’t get on the problem
Comment by Union thug Tuesday, Mar 26, 19 @ 12:51 pm