Marc Smith, DCFS Illinois director, will step down at end of year, Gov. Pritzker announces
COOK COUNTY, Ill. (WLS) -- The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services director will end his four-year tenure at the end of this year.
Marc Smith took over the agency before COVID, and is credited for acquiring resources and weathering the pandemic.
In a statement Wednesday, he said, "When I joined this administration in 2019, my mission was clear. Build a child welfare system in Illinois that keeps kids safe and supports families in crisis. As someone who has spent my entire career committed to improving the child welfare system - I am incredibly proud of the profound progress we have made. DCFS continues making a difference where it matters most - by keeping children safe, creating brighter futures for the youth in our care, and giving hope to families in crisis that need support. We are on our way to building a child welfare system in Illinois that will once again serve as a national model. The governor and his administration have been incredible partners. Together we confronted the longstanding challenges at DCFS head-on, with both optimism and pragmatism, so we can help families and children thrive. I am profoundly proud to have had the opportunity to lead and work alongside the amazing team of professionals at DCFS that have dedicated their lives to protecting and supporting our most vulnerable children."
But a recent audit of the agency found systemic problems regarding delays in notifying law enforcement when children died or were seriously injured.
Notification is required within 24 hours, but, in 20% of the reports reviewed, notification was delayed five to 43 days, according to the Illinois Auditor General.
"Over the last four years, continuity of leadership and all these extra resources have not really translated into improved outcomes for children," Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert said.
He said the crisis of placement options for children has gotten worse.
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"It was during Marc Smith's directorship that we saw for first time in decades children sleeping on the cold floors of offices," Golbert said.
The embattled director has been held in contempt of court at least a dozen times for the agency's failures in properly caring for or protecting children.
At the time, DCFS responded to the accusations, saying:
"The Department of Children and Family Services works as quickly as possible to place youth in appropriate and safe settings. Of course, we can only place youth where we have availability that meets their needs, which is why the department is also working to expand the capacity that was hollowed out under previous administrations. Thanks to this work, in recent years we have made progress in reducing the number of youth who remain in the justice system past the date they are allowed to be released and we are deeply committed to continued progress. We cannot comment further due to pending litigation."
Russell Ainsworth represents hundreds of children in DCFS care in two class action lawsuits in which it's alleged the children were kept in psychiatric or detention facilities due to a shortage of placement homes or facilities.
"Every child in DCFS care has been traumatized; we are retraumatizing those children," Ainsworth said. "We need a leader, somebody who can change the system and implement what needs to be done, more placements for the children."
State Rep. Steve Reick said he is pushing for urgent changes to the agency.
"I'm not gonna lay anything at the feet of Marc Smith because he was in an impossible situation," Reick said. "I think whoever goes in as the next director of DCFS has got to do so with a clear mandate to be able to make the kind of substantive changes that need to be made in this agency. We can't continue to do things the way they've been done."
The governor now sets out to find a new leader for the agency with thousands of children in its care.
