Sangamon Sun

GOP gubernatorial candidate Jesse Sullivan is calling out the Department of Child and Family Services for failing to provide safety checkups for minors in the system upon being returned to their homes.   

“This scandal is incredibly personal to me and my family," Sullivan said in a press release. "My wife Monique and I made the decision to be foster parents and have welcomed two incredible foster kids into our home. J.B. Pritzker’s failure to care for the most vulnerable Illinoisans is a disgrace — and it’s proof that we need a real change in Illinois instead of a rotating carousel of incompetent insiders.” 

“To see that 98% of home safety checklist visits weren’t recorded — or never happened — and that routine care for kids is falling through the cracks, is a scathing indictment of the Pritzker administration. We need a true change in direction. Illinois needs to partner with and empower faith and civic leaders in our state, and recruit great families to provide the service and love that the state of Illinois is clearly incapable of under J.B. Pritzker and the failed insiders in charge."

Auditor General Frank Mautino's office noted in the audit that DCFS “was unable to provide 192 of the 195 (98%) required Home Safety Checklists.”  

“Additionally, according to DCFS’ website, Home Safety Checklists had still not been updated with the required new language as of March 16, 2022,” the audit reads.  House safety checklists are conducted upon the return of a child to the setting from which they were removed.

Following Navin Jones’ death, police have also reopened a case into the death of his half-brother’s asphyxiation in 2007.

The audit was conducted pursuant to a 2020 law called Ta'Naja's Law, which was put into effect. The law was named after 2-year-old Ta’Naja Barnes, who was found dead by police over three years ago on Feb. 11, 2019. Ta'Naja, who was in the DCFS system, was found wrapped in a urine-soaked blanket inside her Decatur home. She died in starvation and deprivation. Her death spawned a series of investigative reports leading to the passage of the law requiring regular audits of the department.  

"We know that Ta'Naja was not the first one this had happened to, but it took too many children for this to happen to," Iisha Dean, who served as Ta'Naja’s foster mother, said. "Change has come, and hopefully this is a start."

DCFS has been panned after the deaths of others in its system. On March 29, 8-year-old Peoria resident Navin Jones was found dead in his parents' home. Jones had been the subject of several DCFS communications and had been removed from the home more than once. His grandmother made several reports to the agency as well as area police prior to the child’s death. He weighed only 30 pounds at the time of his death. 

DCFS Director Marc Smith has been found in contempt of court nine times in his official position for improperly keeping a 14-year-old child in a psychiatric facility. In that case, in September 2021 the child was temporarily taken into custody and moved 21 times within the system before essentially being imprisoned in the institution. The judge, in that case, has ordered a $1,000 fine against DCFS per day until the child is properly placed. Gov. J..B. Pritzker has continued to defend Smith despite the court rulings. 

Smith was hired after a search process in which Pritzker — a billionaire — loudly proclaimed he had put $50,000 of his own money into the effort.  At the time, in 2020, Pritzker said he was committed to overhauling the agency.  Two years later, critics report the agency is “worse than ever.” 

Smith makes over $110,000 in base salary as DCFS Director, according to GovSalaries.