SPRINGFIELD – Last year, State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) launched a special committee to look into Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services. She was concerned about reports of rising death rates, several high-profile cases of potentially preventable deaths and many anecdotal stories about the agency not performing as well as it should. Now, after a series of hearings, Morrison is proposing reforms to help DCFS improve its success rate.

“One of the most important roles our government plays is defending people who can’t defend themselves,” Morrison said. “We must do everything in our power to prevent child abuse and neglect.”

Morrison’s agenda includes many separate pieces of legislation. The following measures passed committee late Tuesday afternoon:

  • Senate Bill 3009 - Requires DCFS to make annual reports to the General Assembly about the effectiveness of its day care licensing system, which serves more than 300,000 children.
  • Senate Bill 3421 – Requires all mandated reporters of child abuse to complete training every five years.


Morrison is also proposing:

  • Requiring DCFS to track its “safety plans.” Safety plans separate at-risk children from their parents by moving them to the homes of relatives or other familiar adults rather than into the foster care system; however, once the child is moved, the situation is not currently tracked or monitored in any meaningful way.
  • Expanding use of child abuse interdisciplinary investigation teams. These teams are made up of doctors, police officers and DCFS investigators and have proven highly effective at detecting child abuse and neglect early and accurately.


Morrison continues to look into a variety of other ideas proposed at the hearings and may introduce more legislation after doing further research.

“I realize that there’s no simple fix for the problems at DCFS,” Morrison said. “We have to get the agency to track the performance of its programs before we can even begin to figure out what works and what doesn’t. And strong, proven and consistent leadership at DCFS will be one of the first important steps.”