DCFS can't keep up with day care duties - Illinois Action for Children

"That's one of the things that's really got to change — otherwise how do you really knowthat what you are seeing is how they are truly operating?" said attorney Francis PatrickMurphy, who brokered a $2 million settlement against the center. "Of course they'regoing to be in compliance when the visits are announced."Marlowe said he had no direct knowledge of the allegation that DCFS workers notifiedthe day care of impending visits, but he acknowledged that monitoring visits typically fellaround the same time of year.Patricia Goodman, a Lake County day care advocate and retired DCFS licensingsupervisor, said the inspections would be more thorough if workers had lighter caseloads."We may never know if better DCFS monitoring could have exposed some of thepotential dangers these children faced," Goodman said of the Minee Subee case. "Butwhat we do know is we can do better."To thwart such tragedies, Marlowe said DCFS would have to be present in facilities allthe time."I think that's just wishful thinking to say more monitoring and inspections would preventsomeone from snapping on a crying child and throwing them to the ground," he said. "Ihave yet to look into one of these incidents and find that we hadn't been there."An Aurora girl's death in August shows even repeated DCFS intervention can't alwaysprevent a tragedy. Abigail Holland, 2, attended an unlicensed home that DCFS hadvisited twice and instructed to shut down, records show.DCFS responded to a complaint that the home was operating illegally and ordered TracyKennedy to stop caring for children until she received a license, according to agencyrecords. A DCFS official also noted that an aboveground pool in the backyard wasn'tproperly secured, the records show.Less than two months later, Abigail drowned in that pool after wandering outside whileKennedy was inside, alone with nine other children, according to records. Kennedy wascharged with endangering the life of a child and operating without a license. She haspleaded not guilty.Calls for changeAdvocates, including Illinois Action for Children, pushed this spring for legislation thatwould transfer day care licensing from DCFS to the Illinois Department of HumanServices. They argue that early childhood development is more central to that agency'smission and that too many facilities aren't inspected.