The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is trying to avoid oversight by a court-appointed monitor. Attorneys representing DCFS and the American Civil Liberties Union were in federal court today for the first time since a mandated assessment recommended independent oversight.
In their report, a panel of four experts told Judge Jorge Alonso that children are “suffering” under a capricious department.
DCFS attorney Barbara Lynn Greenspan told Alonso today that the department agrees with all of the experts’ findings, and every recommendation except for one.
Greenspan told the judge that a federal court monitor would be an unnecessary cost and could impede the progress already seen under the agency’s new director. The ACLU’s Ben Wolf says the report shows the need for independent experts to have substantial input.