“At the end of the day, DCFS is responsible for everything that happens to a child, for making sure the child is safe, for making sure the child has an appropriate placement, for making sure that the child isn’t treated like garbage by giving them garbage bags for their possessions,” said Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert.

Kin-first foster systems decrease the risk of abuse and create a higher chance of achieving permanent placement for kids, according to Casey Family Programs, the nation’s largest foundation focused on foster care.

The vast majority of the ideas won’t make it to the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker or become law, but the list of proposals offers some insights into the issues members of the lower chamber are concerned about as they kick off their new terms in office.

The Kindship in Demand Act, or KIND Act, puts an obligation on the Department of Children and Family Services to use a “kin-first approach” when placing children in foster care settings.

Child welfare experts have long touted the benefits of foster children staying with kin. Advocates say those arrangements offer children more stability, decrease the trauma they experience, improve their mental health and reduce the number of times the child is moved from home to home.

At 9 years old, L.J. started missing school. His parents said they would homeschool him. It took two years — during which he was beaten and denied food — for anyone to notice he wasn’t learning.

Heidi Mueller was appointed director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in February. She is the 13th director in 14 years.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and several other state agencies are holding a job fair Thursday at the UIC Jane Addams College of Social Work.

The person who advocates in court for children who’ve been abused or neglected said the state’s Department of Children and Family Services is not only failing to meet the needs of kids in its care — but that the situation is getting worse.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday announced that he’ll appoint Heidi Mueller, the current head of Illinois’ Juvenile Justice Department, to head the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) starting in February.

Lake County Judge George Strickland found Carlos Acosta, 57 of Woodstock, who was a case investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, guilty of the child endangerment charge but acquitted him of a reckless conduct charge.

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith will resign effective Dec. 31, he told colleagues in an all-staff town hall meeting Wednesday morning.

WTTW News analyzed state salary data and found some departments got smaller or had a noticeable uptick in employees leaving. Even in agencies that grew, employee churn was evident. We walk you through the numbers. 

A federal lawsuit alleges that rather than housing children in appropriate settings, DCFS allowed them to remain locked in juvenile jails without access to proper educational, medical and mental health supports.

In Cook County, Black youth account for more than 70% of the child welfare system. Meanwhile, Black residents make up only 23% of the county’s total population. As of February 2022, there are more than 4,000 Black children in foster care in Cook County.

Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services has been struggling to find proper placements, particularly for high-needs youth for whom the agency is having to stand in as a pseudo parent. So much so that some children and teens who have had a stint at a psychiatric hospital are there after they’ve been cleared for release because there’s nowhere for them to go.