McHenry Times

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Director Marc Smith faced a lot of questions during a lengthy virtual hearing, but state Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) wants further action taken.

Ugaste's call for action came after Smith appeared before the House Human Services Appropriations Committee for a three-and-a-half-hour virtual hearing on Jan. 28.

"Governor Pritzker's child welfare agency is failing to keep kids safe," Ugaste wrote in a Jan. 31 Facebook post. "On Friday, the House Human Services Appropriations Committee held a hearing on these failures but so much more needs to be done, and quickly, to address the critical issues within the agency. Our children cannot wait."

Members of the committee questioned Smith about the agency's repeated practice of holding children in psychiatric care for longer than necessary, for which he was issued contempt citations, as well as the death of a 7-year-old who had been involved with DCFS since he was five months old, Capitol News Illinois reported. Smith was expected to appear for a Senate committee hearing in early February.

According to an article on Big Z Media, Smith's contempt of court citations centered around the agency holding children in psychiatric care after they were approved for placement with foster families. The article noted that information from the Cook County Guardian revealed 350 children were held for an average of 55 days after they were approved to be transferred to families in the past year. 

As of June 20, 2019, there were more than 18,500 children from newborn to age 21 in the care of DCFS, according to child welfare statistics from the Illinois Association of Court Appointed Special Advocates. The figures provided also revealed that during the same fiscal year more than 143,000 child victims were associated with investigations into abuse and neglect.