HR0033 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0033 LRB103 29564 MST 55959 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Governor JB Pritzker has reappointed Marc D. Smith to the position of Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS); and

WHEREAS, DCFS is awarded $1.5 billion of Illinois taxpayer money each year; and

WHEREAS, DCFS is in charge of keeping the most vulnerable youths in Illinois safe and healthy; and

WHEREAS, DCFS released Damari Perry into the care of his mother, Jannie Perry, in 2017; he was born in 2015, and she had lost custody of her five other children in 2014; DCFS conducted two investigations into reports of abuse and neglect, including the child being forced to stand in a freezing shower until he threw up and became unresponsive; DCFS failed to remove Damari Perry from the care of his mother before he was found dead in Gary, Indiana; Jannie Perry, her son and Damari's brother, Jeremiah Perry, age 20, and a juvenile sibling have been charged with Damari's death; and

WHEREAS, DCFS was involved with the Hill family for 19 years; the Hill family had 16 children, and each child was investigated as being abused or neglected at least once in that 19-year period; 10 of the children had been removed from the home due to neglect; I'Kera Hill, age three, died of malnutrition while in the care of her parents, and she was not the first of her siblings to die, as her sister, reported by CBS News as "child 10", died while in foster care in 2015; and

WHEREAS, In 2019, there were nine child deaths with a connection to DCFS within nine days; and

WHEREAS, Under Marc D. Smith's watch as director of DCFS, at least 171 children in contact with DCFS have died in 2022, according to the DCFS Inspector General; and

WHEREAS, DCFS only fully investigated 97 of the 171 child deaths; and

WHEREAS, The Inspector General's report found that 36 children died from homicide, six from suicide, 38 from accidents, 19 from unknown causes, 67 from natural causes, and five for which the cause was still pending; many of the children died in homes flagged as violent by DCFS, homes in which the children were not supposed to be allowed to live due to the threat of violence; and

WHEREAS, Illinois had a record number of child deaths under the watch of DCFS in 2022, with a 40% increase over previous years; and

WHEREAS, Reports of child abuse and neglect to DCFS have taken up to 100 days for the department to investigate; and

WHEREAS, DCFS Director Marc D. Smith has been found in contempt of court 12 times for failing to properly place children in care while serving as DCFS Director; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois Auditor General's Office documented 30 problems within DCFS, including 18 repeated problems that had been noted in the past and were still not resolved; and

WHEREAS, There are approximately 20,000 youths in the DCFS system in Illinois, but the audits found the department rarely tracks where these youths are placed or whether they are healthy; and

WHEREAS, Auditors found that 98% of the home safety checklists that DCFS is required to conduct every time a child returns home were not completed in 2020; and

WHEREAS, Director Marc D. Smith's actions as leader of DCFS have directly led to more children dying from abuse and neglect, as well as increased failures and problems within DCFS; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge Marc D. Smith to resign as the Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge Governor Pritzker to formally ask for the resignation of Marc D. Smith from the position of Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be delivered to Governor JB Pritzker and DCFS Director Marc. D. Smith.