Dupage Policy Journal

Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Westmont) called out Gov. J.B. Pritzker for “yet another broken promise,” during a press conference on Thursday.

What was the promise? Mazzochi said Pritzker was going to improve the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

“Gov. Pritzker handpicked Marc Smith to lead DCFS so I understand why Gov. Pritzker feels heavily invested in Director Smith,” Mazzochi said. “But if six contempt of court orders is not enough of a wake-up call for Gov. Pritzker that his approach isn’t working, what will be?”

Mazzochi called out the governor after saying the DCFS ranked poorly for how it manages its operations.

“It was bad enough to DCFS had to receive prior court orders in connection with many of these children who are being held in impossible situations, but a contempt citation means that court orders were ignored repeatedly, chronically,” she said. “That the court believes that there was no other choice to get these kids some relief and that is not acceptable. Three years into the Pritzker Administration and his silence is deafening.”

William McCaffrey, spokesperson for DCFS, told the Chicago Sun-Times the organization is doing its best to work on cases.

“The Department of Children and Family Services is dedicated to keeping children safe and strengthening families,” McCaffrey said. “We are working aggressively addressing the decades-long challenge of a lack of community resources and facilities for children with complex behavioral health needs, which has been exacerbated by an increased demand in social services in recent years.”

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services director Marc Smith has been held in contempt of court six times total now. The most recent order involves the agency sending a 16-year-old girl in foster care to nearly 25 different placements, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The most recent contempt of court order is the fourth in six weeks.

The State Journal-Register reported a 19-month-old named Sophia Faye Davis died on Feb. 8. In her final month of life, there were child abuse allegations that were not addressed. Cierra Coker, the girlfriend of Davis’ father, was charged with first degrees of murder and aggravated battery to a child. She is accused of beating the toddler to death.

In 2019, AJ Freund, a 5-year-old boy was murdered by his parents and hid in a shallow grave in Crystal Lake, Ill. The two former DCFS workers who oversaw his case have been charged with endangering the child’s life. Their case is still going through the courts.