SPRINGFIELD When it comes to changing the way the state cares forchildren at risk of neglect or abuse, there's no shortage of ideasfor and from the Legislature.
In the last few months, about a half-dozen reports havecriticized the state's child welfare system and recommended ways toimprove the Department of Children and Family Services and otherentities.
Most were prompted by the hanging of 3-year-old Joseph Wallacelast April and an ensuing series of high-profile failures by thestate to protect children, even when there were warning signs ofabuse and neglect.
The legislative response has been a mishmash of bills - somederiving from the reports and some from lawmakers' own ideas -attacking the problem on a broad front. The proposals range fromidentifying at-risk children at birth to investigating thecircumstances under which some die.
But getting the various individuals and groups in the childwelfare system to agree on a legislative solution possibly will beeven more difficult than getting Democrats and Republicans to agree.
"There's a general agreement there is a serious problem but noagreement on how best to solve it," said Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie(D-Chicago). "There are a variety of interests involved, all of themwilling to identify others as the problem."
There is also disagreement about the degree to which theLegislature should be involved. Gaylord Gieseke, projects directorfor Voices for Illinois Children, one of the leading child advocacygroups, said many bills simply sidetrack DCFS on its road to reform.
"I don't want to imply there isn't a role for legislators toplay, but we can't look to them to solve everything," she said."Less legislation is better than more . . . you don't always needlegislation to get change."
Republicans tend to agree, generally favoring letting the agencytry to address its problems without legislative action. That is alsothe view of DCFS Director Sterling "Mac" Ryder, who opposes many ofthe current bills.
He said his agency's reform agenda already is spelled out in aconsent decree designed to settle a federal lawsuit alleging thestate failed to provide a safe haven for mistreated children.
"We are doing a terrific job, under trying circumstances and ina short time . . . but we are still probably behind where I think weought to be," he told a House committee recently.
But Democrats see a bigger role for the Legislature in mandatingchange.
"To be quite frank, most of this could be done withoutlegislation, but left to their own devices, (DCFS officials) won't doit," said Rep. Thomas J. Dart (D-Chicago). Dart and Rep. Jay C.Hoffman (D-Collinsville), who co-chaired a House subcommittee onchild welfare formed in response to the Wallace case, unveiledpreliminary legislative proposals last week.
One of their key recommendations is to establish programs toidentify at-risk families and children at birth to prevent abuse andneglect before it begins. A similar proposal, sponsored by SenateMinority Leader Emil Jones (D-Chicago), is one of the fewchild-welfare proposals to emerge from the Republican-controlledSenate so far this year.
The subcommittee proposals also include beefing updrug-treatment programs, strengthening child abuse reporting laws,establishing a "bill of rights and responsibilities" for fosterparents, and creating a unified code of child welfare laws. DCFSofficials said the agency has implemented or started to implementmost of the subcommittee's proposals.
Cook County Chief Judge Harry Comerford, who hosted a childwelfare summit with Gov. Edgar and legislative leaders in January,also is expected to issue a legislative wish list soon.
The Legislature in January approved one idea from the summit,creating a pilot project to ease the burden on juvenile court judgesby turning over many duties to hearing officers.
Lawmakers also approved a few changes last year, such as aproposal making a child's "best interest" the main factor in decidingwhether they should be returned to abusive parents. .
Ryder acknowledges the Legislature has a role in reform. Inparticular, he needs them to agree to Edgar's proposal to increasethe DCFS budget to $1.05 billion, a $153 million increase. The moneyis needed to continue to implement the consent decree, Ryder said.He also supports a plan to make it easier for parental rights to beended and abused children to be adopted. The Senate passed that billlast week.
And DCFS wants to create three or four "transitional centers" inChicago public housing that would house 50 to 100 children for up tosix months at a time, a plan that is sure to come under fire fromlegislators who feel the CHA is an inappropriate location.
Other bills that are working their way through the legislativeprocess: Rep. John A. Ostenburg (D-Park Forest), who chairs a special Housetask force on children, wants to establish a coordinated program forproviding social services to children who come in contact with thechild welfare system. Hoffman is sponsoring two bills, now on the House floor, to createteams of child welfare professionals to quickly investigate deaths ofchildren and to review certain cases of abuse and neglect. Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Hinsdale), a member of the specialsubcommittee who criticized its report last week for excluding inputfrom Republicans, wants to create a Child Abuse Task Force to developguidelines to be used to identify and provide services to victims ofsexual abuse and help medical workers identify and treat abusevictims.
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