Illinois state Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) | repugaste.com
Illinois state Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) | repugaste.com
Illinois state Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) commented on the various scandals plaguing the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in a recent interview with the Kane County Reporter.
"I think it has to start with new leadership," Ugaste said in the interview. "It seems like we continue to have [the] same problems over and over and to me that seems like a failure of leadership."
A federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Cook County Guardian Charles Golbert accused the DCFS of allowing innocent children to be kept in detention centers for weeks to months at a time without proper care, even after a judge had ordered several of them to be released into the care of their guardian; a recent WLS report said.
Ugaste believes Gov. JB Pritzker has been willingly silent on the issue out of embarrassment and that he should stop trying to reappoint current DCFS director Marc Smith to the position.
"There's a lot of people that make up the agency and I’m sure some of them are doing all they can to help these children," Ugaste told the Reporter. "But there’s no question, some major changes are needed.
"I’m completely at a loss for why [Pritzker] appointed the same person all over again and wonder if he’ll even make it through confirmation. But it makes no sense to me that he would be doing this. It’s horrible for these kids and we have to change it for them."
18-year-old Janiah Caine, who was a charge of the DCFS as a minor, spent a total of 166 days over three separate occasions in Cook County's Juvenile Detention Center, even after a judge had ordered her release. She is currently one of eight defendants named in Golbert's lawsuit.
"You don't feel safe," Caine told WLS. "The staff don't make you feel safe either. They're not respectful to you. They treat you like nothing."
Statistics from the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian showed that there were 84 instances of children held in detention for prolonged periods of time in 2021, the WLS report said. Seven of those children are still in that same situation.
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