DCFS, in the news, again

[MYSONSDAD]

http://www.nbc5.com/family/4285421/detail.html

Judge: DCFS Threats To Families Violated Rights
State Accused Of 'Destroying Families, Hurting Children'


CHICAGO -- A federal judge has ruled that the Illinois Department of
Children and Family Services violated families' constitutional rights when
the agency threatened to separate parents from their children during abuse
investigations.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer did not fault DCFS in her ruling,
which was made public Monday. But the judge found "ample evidence" that
families suffered psychological and emotional injuries because the
separations of parents from their children lasted more than a "brief or
temporary period."

DCFS creates safety plans that are designed to be voluntary agreements by
parents, who in many cases, agree to leave their home or remain under
constant supervision after the agency launches an investigation into abuse
or neglect.

But many of the families who testified during a 22-day hearing in 2002 and
2003 said the DCFS investigators had threatened to take their children away
from them unless the parents agreed to the agency's safety plans.

"When an investigator expressly or implicitly conveys that failure to accept
a plan will result in the removal of the children for more than a brief or
temporary period of time, it constitutes a threat sufficient to deem the
family's agreement coerced, and to implicate due process rights," Pallmeyer
wrote in her 59-page opinion.

The judge gave DCFS 60 days to develop a plan for families to contest the
safety plans.

DCFS spokeswoman, Diane Jackson, said Pallmeyer's safety plan review was
limited to 2002 and since then changes have been made to the procedure.

Jackson declined to explain what changes were made until DCFS can report to
Pallmeyer.

Diane Redleaf, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, said about 10 families were
involved in the court case, but the judge's decision would affect thousands.

"Instead of protecting children, the state is actually destroying families
and hurting children," Redleaf said.

Monday's ruling was the second by Pallmeyer stemming from the same lawsuit
to go against DCFS. In 2001, Pallmeyer found that DCFS often made findings
of wrongdoing based on little evidence.