South Central Reporter

State Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Carbondale) is among those demanding an overhaul of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) amid allegations made in a civil rights lawsuit.

“We need wholesale changes in this department,” Jacobs told the South Central Reporter. “From kids sleeping in offices, to 171 deaths among children with whom the Department has had contact last year, the problems for DCFS are getting worse by the day. We need a full-scale investigation into what is going on and we need to develop viable solutions.”

The recently filed lawsuit charges that DCFS officials “willfully and wrongly” left dozens of children locked up, sometimes for weeks, even in cases where judges had ordered them to be released to guardians.

Teenager Janiah Caine is one of the defendants named in the suit. She was held for a total of almost six months, on three different occasions, as she got lost in the system, and she had told investigators she didn’t feel safe under the agency’s watch.

"You don't feel safe,” Caine told ABC7 when describing conditions there. “The staff don't make you feel safe either. They're not respectful to you. They treat you like nothing.” 

The Office of the Cook County Public Guardian released statistics that show that as recently as in 2021 there were 84 instances of children left locked up for prolonged periods of time with at least seven of them remaining in custody to this day, ABC7 reported.

Jacobs said Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker isn't doing enough.

“There really is nothing good to talk about and so he is not talking about the department at all,” Jacobs said. “But it really does not matter if he talks about the situation at DCFS or not. What matters is what action is he taking and so far, his inaction has spoken louder than any words.”

It is time to act, he said.

“DCFS is failing kids. The consequences of the poor leadership at DCFS will reverberate through our society for many years to come,” Jacobs said.

He said he has “no confidence” in the agency leadership and is calling for it be stripped down and built from the ground up again.