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Audit Finds Wards Stranded in Shelters, Psych Hospitals

A state audit finds children in the care of Illinois' welfare system are being housed in psychiatric hospitals and shelters hundreds of days longer than necessary because of the difficulty of finding placements in foster care.

A review of the Department of Children and Family Services was conducted by the state auditor general's office.  Inspectors found one state ward remained in an emergency shelter 357 days last year, far longer than the court-ordered 30 days.

The number of children remaining in psychiatric hospitals longer than medically necessary more than doubled in 2015 from the year before to 168.

DCFS Director George Sheldon acknowledged that "this is one of the most intractable issues we have been dealing with."

 

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