The finding comes roughly a week after Cook County's Public Guardian sued the department in an effort to order the agency to release information about children sleeping in its offices.
RELATED: DCFS accused of keeping children inside makeshift shelters in city offices
The agency is now reporting that 16 children were forced to sleep in DCFS offices between May 6 and June 28 of this year.
The Department of Children and Family Services didn't keep track of that information before May 6, the agency said.
The department told ABC 7 on Thursday that the number of shelter beds it can use has dropped 70% since 2015.