South Cook News

Conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey is indignant with how the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is performing.

Bailey called again for the department's director to resign and slammed the governor for taking no action after a special needs child slept in a DCFS office building.

"It is infuriating that JB Pritzker continues to get a free pass for the house of horrors — AKA the Department of Children and Family Services — he is running," Bailey said. "A special needs child sleeping on the floor of an office building? The insanity there is getting out of hand. It is beyond time for DCFS Director Marc Smith to go. The fact that he is still there is all of the evidence we need that JB Pritzker does not deserve a second term."

A 5-year-old girl autistic girl was one of 177 in DCFS’s care this year who were lodged in office spaces instead of an appropriate placement. In that case, the kid was forced to sleep on the floor for six nights while no beds were available in a therapeutic setting. 

"This is a child who is in DCFS's care due to concerns about abuse and neglect; and what does DCFS say to the little girl? 'Here. Here's an office. Go sleep on the floor of this office,'” Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert told CBS News Chicago.

DCFS has been under fire recently following a number of high-profile child fatalities. In a review, the office of Auditor General Frank Mautino observed that DCFS “was unable to provide 192 of the 195 (98%) required home safety checklists.”

“Additionally, according to DCFS’ website, home safety checklists had still not been updated with required new language as of March 16,” the audit reads. When a child is put back in the environment from which they were removed, home safety checks are done.

Smith has been found in contempt of court 12 times in just a period of a year. One was for wrongfully keeping a 14-year-old child in a mental health facility, CBS News Chicago reported. In one case, the youngster was briefly taken into custody in September 2021, transported around the system 21 times and was practically imprisoned in the institution. The judge, in that case, has mandated that DCFS pay a fee of $1,000 every day until the child is placed in the appropriate care. Pritzker has persisted in supporting Smith despite the court's decisions.