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Illinois Department of Children and Family Services

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Department of Children and Family Services
Department overview
JurisdictionIllinois
Department executive
  • Marc Smith[1], Director of Children and Family Services
Websitewww.dcfs.illinois.gov

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is the code department[2][3] of the Illinois state government responsible for child protective services.[4][5] As of June 2019, Marc Smith is the acting Director of Children and Family Services.[6]

The DCFS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reports to the Governor and General Assembly annually regarding DCFS.[7] This report reviews deaths and serious injuries that occurred to children who were in DCFS custody or whose families had DCFS involvement the year prior to the child's death or injury. The report also includes policy and disciplinary recommendations by the OIG which are occasionally rejected in the publication by DCFS. The January 2016 edition reviews 96 children's deaths and opens with an introduction from the Inspector General, Denise Kane:

"This year’s annual report sadly captured our failures to our child welfare children and families. There are times when citizens, State agencies and our governmental leaders must have a collective conscience to remedy our social failings. When State agencies use an assessment tool that has never been validated on the very young to psychiatrically hospitalize three and four year-old children, shame on us. When a four-year-old comes into state custody with the developmental speech of a two-year-old, and we only afford him 15 minutes of speech therapy once a week, shame on us. When a ward is gunned down in the streets by an officer whose duty is to protect and there is no integrity to those reporting the incident, shame on us as a society. When our State’s Public Health and Mental Health systems become so eviscerated that vulnerable families have to face child protection investigations without prevention services, shame on us. It is with hope of a collective conscientious response that I submit this year’s annual report."[8]

References

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  1. ^ "Biography of Marc D. Smith, Director - Director's Corner/Welcome message".
  2. ^ Uphoff, Judy Lee (2012). "The Governor and the Executive Branch". In Lind, Nancy S.; Rankin, Erik (eds.). Governing Illinois: Your Connection to State and Local Government (PDF) (4th ed.). Center Publications, Center for State Policy and Leadership, University of Illinois at Springfield. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-0-938943-28-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-22. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
  3. ^ 20 ILCS 5/5-15
  4. ^ Department of Children and Family Services Powers Law (20 ILCS 510)
  5. ^ Children and Family Services Act (20 ILCS 505)
  6. ^ "About DCFS". Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  7. ^ "Illinois Department of Children and Family Services - OIG Annual Reports". Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  8. ^ "Office of the Inspector General - Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Report to the Governor and General Assembly - January 2016" (PDF). January 2016. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-29. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
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