DCFS accused of using girl's inheritance to pay for unnecessary hospital stay
UPDATE (6/14/2023): The Cook County Public Guardian's Office has been advised by DCFS that the girl will get the $34,000 back.
CHICAGO (CBS) – A 9-year-old girl was locked up in a psychiatric hospital for weeks after her care was complete. The overstay racked up tens of thousands of dollars in bills.
CBS 2's Chris Tye reported that the state used money left by her dead father to pay themselves back for that care and that the case was raced in front of a judge late on Wednesday.
CBS 2 has reported on kids being left in offices and hospitals for weeks or months because there was no place to put them.
But the Cook County Public Guardian said this girl's case is a first: taking money from the accounts of vulnerable kids, money left by their deceased parents to reimburse for pricey nights in the hospital that the kids didn't need.
Kids in the care of the Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS, the state's child welfare agency, can linger for months inside psychiatric hospitals after their care is complete and there's nowhere to move them.
The Cook County Public Guardian told CBS 2 a 9-year-old girl was left at one hospital, locked up in the psychiatric ward unnecessarily for about one month beyond medical necessity in 2019.
The unnecessary stay came with a price tag of $34,200.
But in the case of this girl, DCFS also managed her money.
When the girl's father died in 2014, she became the beneficiary of his social security benefits, which have grown to over $118,000. Because that 2019 hospital overstay wasn't medically necessary, Medicaid refused to pay. DCFS was on the line for it, so they dipped into the girl's inheritance to pay themselves back.
"It's just outrageous," said Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert. "So last week, we sent DCFS a letter saying 'Hey, just do the right thing.'"
In the letter, the public guardian's office called on DCFS to repay the $34,200 by Tuesday, May 30. They added that all dollars, "should have stayed in the account and be made available to her adoptive parents … instead, the account has been drained."
"And DCFS wrote to us last night and said no," Golbert said. "So we're going to court this afternoon to get this little girl her money."
Golbert added, "DCFS seems to pass up every opportunity it gets to do right by its kids."
Taking from survivor benefits is a regular practice in Illinois, but taking them for medical overstays, the public guardian says, is new.
"This is the first time that we've caught it," Golbert said.
A new law enacted last year came too late for this girl where "a minimum percentage of the youth's Supplemental Security Income benefits are conserved." The law also calls on DCFS to explore more ways to preserve those dollars.
DCFS said it complied with all state and federal rules in the case.
The girl's adoptive mom was upset that DCFS was asking for more time to explain how her money was spent, given this all happened four years ago.
Two weeks after this story first aired, The Cook County Public Guardian's Office said it has been advised by DCFS that the girl will get the $34,000 back.