When was illinois dcfs established

This guide does not cover juvenile delinquency cases. The term juvenile court also applies to delinquency cases. However, delinquency cases are different because they involve claims that a person under 18 committed a criminal offense.

In most counties, the decision of whether the child protection matter goes to court is made by a state's attorney. State's attorneys are the county's official prosecutors. However, the law allows any adult to file a petition. There will also be a lawyer and guardian ad litem "GAL" for the child. This can be two separate people, but most times both roles are played by the same person. They are involved in all matters regarding the case. In some larger counties, there is a whole court building devoted to juvenile court cases.

In smaller counties, juvenile court cases may be heard in the same building as other types of cases. DCFS may have already moved your child to another home under a safety plan agreement with you. This section has more information about what you can do about safety plans. This rule governs the process of appealing indicated findings of child abuse or neglect.

This revised Rule contains significant changes from the prior version. This revised Rule can be found on the Illinois General Assembly website. Sometimes in the middle of a safety plan, DCFS needs to make a critical decision regarding additional court authority. The court can enforce what DCFS thinks is necessary to guarantee the safety of the child. In other cases, DCFS has already determined they need court involvement.

They take the child from the parents without any prior agreement. The child will be in protective custody at the time DCFS goes to court to begin a court case. DCFS has to get a court order allowing it to keep your child within 48 hours of taking your child from you. This 48 hour period does not include holidays or weekends. In either situation, they place the children with family members whenever possible.

This is required by statute and case law. Also, research has shown that this is best for children. Juvenile court cases are serious matters. Statewide statistics show that many children are returned home. Sometimes this happens at the beginning of a case. Juvenile court cases can be long. The length can depend on your willingness to jump through a lot of hurdles or effectively prove your innocence.

The law requires the State to prove its case of abuse or neglect. In practice, parents are often encouraged not to fight the allegations against them. Juvenile court cases can lead to the complete loss of parental rights if:. The juvenile court case has different stages where each of the following goals might be considered:.

At different times in a case, you may want one or more of these things to happen. Your attorney needs to advise you as to how to present your requests at the right stage of the court process. In Illinois, you have a right to have a lawyer appointed for you if you cannot afford one. The lawyer may be a public defender. Or they may be a private attorney who is told by the court to take the case.

Bring information about your income to court with you on the first day. Most parents who have juvenile court cases want to have their children returned to them as soon as possible. Sometimes, parents are not asking for custody for themselves. They want to make sure another parent who is abusive does not gain custody.

Some parents want to assert that they did not abuse or neglect the child. They want to show they are fully capable of caring for the child. Other parents genuinely need some help to be full-time parents for their children.

The court may order the children to return to only one parent for a limited period. The county may also order the children to remain with someone else while both parents do services. Parents want to make sure they have visits and other ways to stay involved in their child's life. This is true even if the child is living with another person. This is important if the parents cannot do so. You should tell your attorney what your goals are.

Here are a few questions to help you decide what you want to accomplish in court:. Different judges have different processes for you to make decisions related to your goals. Judges who have received proper training will often say that visits are an issue to address at every single court day.

Some judges will press to return children home by asking the State why a child cannot return today. Heidi Dalenberg is one of the coordinating attorneys on that case. She said caseloads are one issue covered by the consent decree. Dalenberg explained that investigators who are overworked are more likely to miss things and reducing caseloads is essential to fixing problems at DCFS.

Investigators are supposed to be assigned no more than new cases each month. Although the Chapin Hall report suggests removal standards should be revisited, Dalenberg said that further study is needed, with an emphasis on examining how investigations are done and if investigators are handling too many cases. A written plan provided by the department included a commitment to changing internal procedures and structures, as well as hiring 43 new investigators.

I think that needs to be there. But I think that the child's well being needs to be looked at before all else. Web Privacy. Home page will radio. See All News. Patterns Magazine. Community Projects Illinois Youth Media. In addition, because of an issue with the system DCFS uses to track its cases, auditors wrote that "it is difficult to know if these are all the death victims with prior contact with DCFS.

Report a correction or typo. Related topics: cook county lake county illinois child abuse children i team politics department of children and family services investigation.

Amber Alert: Abducted Ohio girl, 5, found in Illinois, police say. But in recent years, DCFS has also been delegated responsiblity for delinquent children under age 13 and minors in need of supervision who have violated orders of the juvenile court.

In addition, the department now acts as guardian of neglected or dependent minors who have been made wards of the court. These new responsibilities reflect a shift from the counties to a central administration by the state. Public pressure for action on child abuse has forced legislation on the issue. In , Illinois enacted revisions in the Child Abuse Reporting Act which required more categories of persons to report suspected child abuse.

The revisions also added mental cruelty to the categories of abuse and raised the age of children covered under the act from 16 to The act gave responsibility to the department for investigating suspected abuse cases and neglect within 24 hours of the report.

DCFS must also provide protective services to prevent further harm to abused children, while preserving family unity whenever possible. Because of heightened public awareness of child abuse and the broadening of reporting requirements, there has been a tremendous rise in the number of reports filed with the department.

From fiscal year through fiscal year child abuse and neglect reports increased from 2, cases to 13, cases. If this were not enough, DCFS must also regulate, license and set standards for child care facilities. The department must develop a plan for day care in the state, coordinate all-day care activities for children and provide day care services to children in low-income, mobile and migrant families.

The Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children provides for the department to protect the interests of children from other states who are placed in Illinois and of children placed by Illinois in other states. Finally, the department is mandated to establish and maintain supportive child welfare services and to improve voluntary services throughout the state so that services and care are available on an equal basis throughout Illinois.

Because other state agencies as well as the general citizenry have tended to accept this view, DCFS has been blamed for almost everything: for not ending child abuse, preventing runaways or halting other unacceptable behavior. Presently, Illinois children compose about 38 per cent of the population, yet only about 17 per cent of DMHDD clients are under the age of It is also not clear how these youth are to be identified. Certainly many children who are DCFS wards are in danger of "community extrusion because of their dysfunctional behavior.

While local mental health clinics will readily accept children and their parents for counseling, it is difficult to obtain other services such as homemaking or advocacy, which can be more effective.

If DMHDD accepts responsibility for a group of children, there is still the question of who will make decisions for the child. Another example of undefined boundaries arises in connection with the Commission on Delinquency Prevention. Implementation of this recommendation will undoubtedly bring about more maneuvering. A collaborative relationship between DCFS and the juvenile court system is also lacking.

Juvenile court personnel say that DCFS workers do not adequately plan for their wards, do not keep adequate records, do not report to the court on time and do not know how to present themselves or a case in court. On the other hand, DCFS workers report that they are often forced to wait in juvenile court for hours or even days for their cases to be heard. The time wasted could be used to help clients.