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NASW: DCFS worker deaths “preventable and a result of unsafe and unsupported work environments”

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* We discussed this legislation yesterday…

Among the elected officials showing support of a new bill for increased protection efforts towards Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) workers is Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The governor announced his support for the legislation on Thursday, Jan. 6, two days after DCFS worker Deidre Silas was stabbed to death during a home visit in Thayer, Illinois. Authorities arrested 32-year-old Benjamin Reed who is charged with first degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Silas’ death comes more than four years after Whiteside County DCFS worker Pam Knight was beaten and killed during a welfare check in Milledgeville on Sept. 29, 2017. Knight’s attacker, Andrew Sucher, signed a plea deal for 21 years in jail with no parole.

* Response from Kyle Hillman at the National Association of Social Workers, Illinois Chapter…

While we are not surprised, we are still disappointed to hear the news that actions to protect social workers, case workers and investigators of DCFS are once again relying on sentence enhancements proven to be ineffective. While we grieve for the families who are facing the unthinkable tragedies before them, we are reminded that these tragedies were preventable and a result of unsafe and unsupported work environments that ask employees of DCFS to engage in highly dangerous situations without the same precautions afforded to other at-risk professions.

Social Workers, Case Managers, and Investigators at DCFS already have strong enhanced penalty legislation, in fact, they are one of the only professions written into the same legislation protecting legislators. It is a felony to even threaten one of these workers, much less assault one of them, and yet crimes against these workers continue and lives continue to be lost. Make no mistake the legislation being proposed will not prevent the next tragedy in DCFS just as existing penalty enhancements protecting these positions have also failed.

As a state, we need to look critically at existing DCFS policies that place these workers consistently in dangerous environments. We need a complete overhaul how we do risk assessments on visits, how we create teams to investigate, the training provided to these teams including conflict de-escalation and safety assessments, and what technology for emergency situations are we providing these workers.

Social Work is not a calling, it is a licensed profession that demands safe work environments, supports and compensation equal to the risks being asked of them. DCFS has failed to deliver this and the questions that should be asked is why and what changes are we making to rectify this.

The murder of Pamala Knight should have been a wake-up call for DCFS and the state, and yet several years later we are grieving yet another preventable death. Several years later we are still discussing sentence enhancements that would neither have prevented these tragedies nor will prevent future ones.

As a state we can make meaningful reforms that will prevent future families from having to experience these tragic moments. Our hope is that the Governor and General Assembly will commit to ending this cycle of tragedies in the department and pass meaningful reforms that prevents violence from ever happening against our state workers.

Emphasis added.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 8:37 am

Comments

Kyle once again lays it out very clearly and eloquently. Hopefully our elected officials listen.

Comment by Excitable Boy Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 8:41 am
It would be helpful to hear specific proposals for protecting DCFS workers. Short of sending an armed guard with each home visit, how can safety be maximized?

Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 8:43 am
As is quite often the case, lots of banging the table and saying everything is THEIR fault (in this case the State) and pretty much no specifics. Look, I’m ready to believe the State is or can be incompetent and not willing to pay what it should in the smartest way to fix a problem. I’m inclined to believe that. But if you don’t actually tell me what you think the problem is and what would fix it and HOW your solution would fix it, it’s a lot of hot air and attention seeking.

How does Kyle know a different “risk assessment” would have prevented her from going to this house? What factors were missed or ignored? Back up your accusations or be quiet.

Comment by Perrid Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 8:59 am
The DCFS investigators have an impossibly difficult job, even before you consider that they willingly enter the homes of people who are living through the most difficult times of their lives. We hope that the investigators can intervene in these nearly impossible situations.

The caseloads are too high. We can no longer expect so few to do so much.

While it is a felony to even threaten a DCFS investigator, I’m going to wager there are few charges filed and even fewer penalties levied against those who make those threats. The attorneys, judges and society make so many excuses for these parents. Hands off of our DCFS investigators. Hands off of all public officials. Quit making excuses for bad people.

I just don’t think the average citizen knows how inherently bad and how mentally ill some of these people are. I think average law abiding people can’t fathom how much methamphetamine is poured into our state and how much it is a “force multiplier” of the mental illness, sexual depravity and violence in so many of these homes.

Comment by Occasionally Moderated Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 9:04 am
If the Pritzker Administration wants to impose criminal penalties that are going to protect DCFS workers he should start within his own administration and hold the Director of DCFS, Chief of Staff, and other senior staff that are responsible for failing to address the glaring safety issues and failing to fill the many hundreds of appropriated positions and failing to address the underlying issues that have caused DCFS to struggle with meeting it’s core responsibilities. Rather than own the issues caused by years of mismanagement at the agency, senior staff at DCFS have been shifting blame to their bargaining unit staff that are already stretched thin and repeatedly mandated to shifts and other offices in regions very far from home because DCFS has not been able to hire the hundreds of positions that they need to hire and hasn’t even bothered expanding their ability to hire more people quickly.

The Pritzker Administration’s response of increasing penalties for attackers is ineffective and that’s why progressive leaders usually don’t advocate for harder penalties because they know that does not address the underlying issues.

People that attack DCFS employees could be beaten to death in the street and that wouldn’t do anything to make DCFS employees safer, but it sure would be easier than the leadership at DCFS figuring out how to effectively run their agency and make it a safe place for people to work.

Comment by Candy Dogood Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 9:11 am
“”sentence enhancements proven to be ineffective”"

Say it Kyle. An evident fact demonstrated for decades, across many situations, but slow to be accepted by the public.

Comment by walker Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 9:12 am
I’m curious what other states do to mitigate the potential danger here. It seems like it’s part and parcel to the job. DCFS i assume doesn’t usually stop by to visit families that aren’t in some degree of crisis and stress and they have to see them in their home. It seems impossible to ensure those homes are “safe” for the inspector if the people being visited chose to be aggressive. Would it be better for them to go out in pairs? A squad car as company? we can’t be the only state with this kind of issue what do the other 49 do and what works?

Comment by Mason born Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 9:33 am
-sending an armed guard with each home visit-

Unfortunately, that’s about the only thing that could have prevented this tragedy. This sort of job is never going to be a “safe place to work” any more than being a cop is a safe job. They should work in teams and be able to protect themselves, a parent in a drug induced rage isn’t going to care about enhanced penalties. In more rural areas, enlist the help of local police, there are no less that 6 local PDs within 10 minutes of Thayer.

Comment by South Sangamon Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 9:36 am
Governor Pritzker probably needs to spend a few hours talking with some DCFS line employees without any of their supervisors or administrators present and only having one person from his staff there to take notes.

If JB wants to know what’s going on at his agencies he probably needs to start checking in with the people who are actually tasked with carrying out public policy. Maybe he has no idea about the repeated mandates and dozens of involuntary hours of overtime every month. Maybe he has no idea about how thinly stretched moral is at the agency. Maybe he has no idea how understaffed some individual DCFS officers are.

I think Governor Pritzker is an outstanding human being and personally believe the only reason why DCFS is floundering the way it is and abusing it’s front line staff is because the Governor has no idea that it’s happening to the extent that it is happening.

His administration and the legislature has already given DCFS the ability to address a lot of these issues and they just haven’t acted and maybe they’re painting rosier pictures than they should be during their meetings with staff, or maybe there are some Raunerites still employeed at DCFS that want Governor Pritzker to fail and don’t really believe in the government anyway.

The Prizker Administration can’t solve a problem that it does not understand and based off of their response yesterday and wanting to give the Governor the benefit of the doubt, I have to assume he doesn’t understand the problem at hand.

Comment by Candy Dogood Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 9:37 am
I think if you send a woman out to a location to investigate possible mistreatment of a child you send a law enforcement officer with her for her protection. I don’t see any other alternative.

Comment by The Dude Abides Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 9:40 am
I would like to know more about the specifics of this one. Did this guy have a history of violence? What procedures are in place to flag high-risk situations? Had this caseworker interacted with this guy in the past?

Comment by Soccermom Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 9:55 am
And Kyle makes a crucial point here: “Social Work is not a calling, it is a licensed profession”

Comment by Soccermom Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 9:56 am
I you send a social worker out to a location to investigate possible mistreatment of a child you send a law enforcement officer with them for their protection. Fixed it for you.

Comment by Southern IL Bob Too Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:00 am
=I don’t see any other alternative.=

Or send them out in teams? I am sure staffing is probably a problem there, but it can help. Whenever we do a home visit we always go with two people. Just good practice.

Comment by JS Mill Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:01 am
Sorry Candy, governors own. The phrase “ knew or should have known” comes to mind. What he does now will determine whether he is an outstanding human being, because his performance to date does not meet that standard.

Comment by Captain Obvious Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:08 am
They used to have state troopers whose assignment was to accompany caseworkers in dangerous situations. I had a friend who did that. Is that something that was cut back? Or was the threat under-assessed in this case? Sometimes you don’t know it’s going to be dangerous until it happens. But prevention is definitely better than punishment.

Comment by Excessively Rabid Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:10 am
As a previous DCFS Investigator myself, I never felt supported in the field…never. For instance, when it was my duty shift of 24 hr on-call and received a report at 1 am and had to drive 60 miles to respond to said location there was very little information about where I was going or who may be at that location. If there was accurate information on the report, I would conduct a LEADS check and try to notify police of my possible presence in the area.

I could not carry any weapon, although I was trained in conceal carry and a Veteran of 8 years. No mace or Pocket knife as well. All I had on me was a DCFS Report, Pen, Paper, my wit and my ability to assess environment. I prayed that I would return home to my Wife and two girls. Often letting my wife know of my location, although that was against protocol. Most days consisted of me receiving 5-9 reports a day. I could barely even do the minimum even keep up with the 24 hr mandate to respond to these reports. I was told that I could not work overtime but these reports must be completed within the 24 hour period…so I worked long hours, often 16-18 hr days and then had to write down that I only worked 8 hours in that day. Writing was on the wall.

In the end, I left that job after 2 years…literally walking off due to the high level of stress, disregard for the value of my life from management, unattainable work environment, overworked, my health declined substantially, and I developed anxiety riddled non coping skills that continue to this day.

All of this information was reported to my regional supervisor and directly to the Director of DCFS. Nobody came to save me or looked out for my well-being. I was just a number to them.

I hope that policies change and that Investigators are treated with the upmost regard, but I highly doubt that it will ever happen. My love goes out to all Investigators past and present.

Comment by Edify Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:16 am
IDOR has its own department of armed enforcement officers. ( I think they are used for alcohol and tobacco enforcement) They are plainclothes officers with sidearms. I think this would be the way to go for DCFS. You send someone uniformed in it will escalate the situation.

Comment by Honeybear Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:20 am
Ah, but sentencing enhancements do work, albeit after the fact

People who are predisposed to shoot, beat, attack and sexually assault innocents can’t do that when housed in one of two locations: jail or prison.

My view is archaic. Unsympathetic. Brutal. But it is based on years of dealing with archaic, unsympathetic brutal sociopaths who cannot be redeemed, no matter how much we hope for better.

Comment by Occasionally Moderated Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:21 am
It seems a terrible choice. You sent a peace officer you risk the police officer mistaking a drug fueled or mental illness fueled tik for a sign of danger and having an officer involved killing. Sent the social worker without the officer and risk the agent being killed.

Maybe social worker guards who are trained in psychology and social work and weapons handling, whose job is to accompany the regular social workers? That’s going to cost $$ though.

Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:23 am
===Sorry Candy, governors own. The phrase “ knew or should have known” comes to mind. ===

I am not saying he doesn’t own. I have offered some very harsh rebukes. The state of DCFS and the safety issues that have lead to the death and injury of DCFS employees are absolutely the fault of the Governor. The tone deaf and ineffective response to these safety issues by promising harsher punishments — after the fact — is also something he put his rubber stamp on. I would like Governor Pritzker to make a sincere effort to make DCFS a safer working environment where employees are not consistently forced to work overtime or lose their job and not forced to be detailed to offices hours away from their homes and families or lose their jobs and I have reached the conclusion that the only way Governor Pritzker can have a true understanding of this problem is to personally hear from the people who are doing the work about what their lives are like. I don’t think what is happening at DCFS is by his administrations design or intention and I think the Director of DCFS and other senior staff at that agency have failed to the point where the Governor needs to remove them from the equation so he can develop a better understanding of the consequences of their failure to successfully administrate the agency.

Governor Pritzker is three years into this job. He should know by now that agency senior staff will lie to his staff about how things are going in order to personally save face.

No one one wants to be responsible for a preventable death of a public employee, but at the end of the day Governor Pritzker is responsible for the conditions that caused it and he needs to step up and take personal responsibility for arriving at the solution. The People of Illinois are owed a detailed explanation as to why his agency has failed to utilize the resources they have been appropriated by the legislature.

If he doesn’t want to do this, perhaps the legislature should be launching a formal investigation as to why DCFS has failed to act on the full extent of their appropriation and to bring on the hundreds of permanent hires that the legislature told them to hire.

But right now, they don’t strike me as being on top of this either since some of them are making house speeches calling for everyone to put on their thinking caps like they are a class of 2nd grade students and not an assembly of our fellow Illinoisans that we have trusted the awesome power of the People of Illinois with.

Comment by Candy Dogood Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:33 am
Simple but resource heavysolution:
No one goes alone, always pairs of folks, and investigators have the equivalent of a Life Alert button rapidly available that alerts police to the location.

Comment by DeeLay Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:35 am
Do caseworkers have access to criminal background information of known residents of a home they are visiting. I don’t know if sending caseworkers out in pairs on all cases is feasible or even necessary but certainly in cases where there is a known history of violence by household members it should be mandatory that they be accompanied. And I wouldn’t leave it up to the caseworker. Also, workloads should probably be adjusted to allow for extra time needed for the worker to secure assistance in risky situations.

I also noticed that this caseworker had not been a DCFS caseworker for very long-less than six months, it appears. Should she have been going to any home by herself.

Comment by Cassandra Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:37 am
I have to agree that it’s going to be hard to make a home visit safe. If the home were safe, then the agent probably wouldn’t have to
be making the visit. At least the first several
visits. Some homes will be safe because the agent has guided the parent to clean up their act, others because the report is unfounded. But the visits that are the most viral - those will
be to homes that are in crisis.
Increasing the punishment won’t help because the people in crisis aren’t going to know the punishment or care about it. The agents need to go in teams and they need one of that team to be law enforcement. They don’t have to dress like one, but they need to
be one.

Comment by thoughts matter Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 10:46 am
You’d think DCFS caseworkers aren’t covered by a CBA by the way they talk rather than being represented by one of the most powerful unions in the state. Is AFSCME too busy fighting vaccine mandates or what?

Comment by Now I’m down in it. Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 11:07 am
–Kyle once again lays it out very clearly and eloquently. Hopefully our elected officials listen.–

Yes he did; no they won’t.

The bill is the pretense of “doing something” that’s easily reduced to a campaign mailer or :30 ad.

Comment by King Louis XVI Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 11:24 am
Four years ago McCombie jumped on this opportunity, outspoken against Dems keeping her bill from helping protect DCFS employees. The perpetrator of Pam Knight took a plea deal, already requesting parole early release! Kyle states very well what needs to be done, NOT enhanced sentencing

Comment by JuMP Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 11:30 am
===Increasing the punishment won’t help because the people in crisis aren’t going to know the punishment or care about it.===

On 07/29/17, Andrew Sucher was charged in Whiteside County with Aggravated Battery of a chilled under 13 with bodily harm as well as three other serious domestic violence misdemeanors.

On 09/29/19, he murdered DCFS Investigator Pamela Knight by beating her to death.

Had he been housed in the Whiteside County Jail awaiting trial on a Class 3 felony, Pam Knight would not have been murdered that day.

Andrew Sucher told us what kind of person he was before he murdered Pamela Knight. We didn’t listen.

This is not a rare example.

One of my undergrad degrees is in sociology. As a young man, I tried to believe that most if not all people are redeemable and that “warehousing” criminals was not benefiting society. Looking back, I see the long road that brought me to my current beliefs. Convicted murderer Nicholas Sheeley was on that road too.

Comment by Occasionally Moderated Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 11:42 am
===You’d think DCFS caseworkers aren’t covered by a CBA===

Tell me you’ve never you’ve never read a collective bargaining agreement without telling me you’ve never read a collective bargaining agreement.

Comment by Candy Dogood Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 12:19 pm
==In more rural areas, enlist the help of local police, there are no less that 6 local PDs within 10 minutes of Thayer.==

Thayer (if they have a PD), Auburn, Virden, Girard, Divernon, Chatham PDs are all within 10 minutes too. Plus the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department too. And Macoupin and Montgomery county lines not too far away from Thayer too in case their help was needed.

Comment by NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 12:24 pm
===Tell me you’ve never you’ve never read a collective bargaining agreement without telling me you’ve never read a collective bargaining agreement.===

Tell me you’re unfamiliar with the woes of DCFS caseworkers without telling me you’re unfamiliar with the woes of DCFS caseworkers.

Comment by Now I'm down in it. Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 1:06 pm
Edify, you’re handle is apt. Thank you sharing your experiences. Some of the PTB read this blog and I hope they will learn from them.

Comment by Marine Life Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 1:50 pm
=== Now I’m down in it. - Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 1:06 pm:===

Do you really think that AFSCME collective bargaining agreement with the state has given AFSCME the ability to post jobs and fill positions that have been appropriated by the legislature?

Comment by Candy Dogood Friday, Jan 7, 22 @ 2:12 pm