An annual report to legislators, prompted by a WGN Investigates series, shows the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is still leaving kids in crisis in psychiatric hospitals and juvenile jails longer than necessary.
Newly released numbers show 296 kids were locked in psychiatric hospitals longer than medically necessary in the past fiscal year. DCFS also revealed 45 youth were in juvenile jails beyond their release dates. Both circumstances continues to occur due to a shortage of appropriate shelter space and foster care options, especially for kids with severe psychiatric or behavioral issues.
“These are not just statistics. They represent children, real children, our children,” said Cook County public guardian Charles Golbert, who has shown a spotlight on the issue for years.
While the most recent numbers show a slight improvement over the previous year they’re still worse than before the pandemic.
“Last year an astonishing 1,009 children languished needlessly and for extended periods in what are supposed to be short-term ’emergency’ placements, locked psychiatric hospitals, jails, out-of-state placements, or hospital emergency rooms because DCFS had nowhere to place them. This is a 46% increase from just two years earlier,” Golbert said.
Kids held in psychiatric hospitals longer than medically necessary have an average age of 12-years-old and stayed an average of 94 days beyond the point they were eligible for medical discharge, according to an analysis by the Cook County public guardian’s office.
The care crisis comes as DCFS has seen a surge of kids in need of help. Nearly 20,000 Illinois children came under DCFS’ supervision last year. A DCFS spokesperson says the agency invested $25M last year and will spend more this year increasing capacity. DCFS expects to add 122 new therapeutic beds this year.
“One of our biggest initiatives is trying to prevent what was formerly known as ‘lockouts’ and instead connect families in mental and behavioral health services that their youth need,” DCFS spokesperson Heather Tarczan told WGN Investigates.
WGN Investigates interviewed Morgan, a young woman in 2021 who was locked in a psychiatric hospital months longer than medically necessary.
“They didn’t have anywhere else to place me so I had to stay there longer and longer and longer,” Morgan said at the time.
In 2019, WGN Investigates revealed 196 kids spent a night sleeping in DCFS offices or in other unauthorized shelter space while awaiting placement. Some were stuck for days, even weeks. It led lawmakers to summon DCFS director Marc Smith to a hearing to explain himself and the shelter bed shortage.
Smith recently announced his resignation from DCFS.
On Wednesday, Gov. JB Pritzker (D-Illinois) announced Heidi Mueller will lead the agency beginning in February. Mueller comes from the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice.
“Heidi’s care and compassion for the most at-risk young people in our state and her exceptional leadership are hallmarks of her career, and I know that her passion and expertise will be a significant asset as we continue to improve our state’s child welfare system,” Pritzker said in a press release.
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via WCIA.com https://www.wcia.com
January 3, 2024 at 05:11PM
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