Gov. JB Pritzker names Heidi Mueller as next Illinois DCFS director; Marc Smith staying an extra month
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith will be staying on the job a month longer than expected, as Gov. JB Pritzker announced Wednesday he has tapped Department of Juvenile Justice Director Heidi Mueller as Smith's successor.
Smith announced in early October that he would be stepping down from DCFS at the end of 2023, but Pritzker's office confirmed Wednesday he will stay on until the end of January to ensure a smooth transition before Mueller replaces him effective Feb. 1.
"As someone who has devoted my career to supporting children and families, I am honored and humbled to be entrusted by Governor Pritzker with the responsibility of leading DCFS," Mueller said in a news release. "In my role as Director of DJJ, I have witnessed firsthand the critical importance of a strong and supportive safety net for our state's most vulnerable residents, and the tragedy that results when there are holes in that net. I am grateful to Director Smith for his successful work in driving real progress at DCFS, and I look forward to carrying the torch forward toward an Illinois that supports and empowers all children and families to thrive."
Mueller's appointment is subject to confirmation by the Illinois Senate. She has led the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice since 2016. The department oversees the state's incarcerated youths, and provides them with education, mental health services, and other care while they're in state custody.
"The work Director Mueller has done at the Department of Juvenile Justice over the last several years has been transformative for the juvenile justice system in Illinois, and I am thrilled that she will bring her unique experience and talents to DCFS," Pritzker said in a news release. "Heidi's care and compassion for the most at-risk young people in our state and her exceptional leadership are hallmarks of her career, and I know that her passion and expertise will be a significant asset as we continue to improve our state's child welfare system."
During her time with DJJ, Mueller launched a program to overhaul the way the department cares for children placed in its custody by the court system, by placing them in small regional residential centers, rather than larger facilities modeled after adult prisons.
Before joining DJJ as a top deputy in 2014, she was executive director of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission, which advises the governor and Illinois General Assembly on juvenile justice policies and administers federal juvenile justice grants in the state.
She will take over for Smith, who announced his resignation in October, just one week after a report by the Illinois Auditor General revealed 33 major failures under his watch at DCFS over the past two years.
Smith has been the center of controversy at DCFS for years, having been held in contempt of court at least a dozen times for the improper placement of a child in the agency's care.
"I think director Smith leaves a mixed legacy," said Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert.
Golbert said that mixed legacy includes massive failures, such as kids in state care sleeping on office floors, a spike in kids in locked psychiatric hospitals, kids languishing in juvenile jails because there were no better placement options, and a spike in child deaths for kids on DCFS radar.
The number of kids who have died on DCFS radar is at a two-decade high.
"There continue to be lots of children's deaths," Golbert said, "and that's largely due to the fact that DCFS' vacancy rate for investigators is still 20 percent - which is in violation of a federal court order."
On the positive side of things, the continuity in leadership helped, with Smith lasting over four years – four times longer than most in the job.
He is credited with a strong handling of DCFS kids during the pandemic, and he was able to nearly double the DCFS budget over his tenure.
"He definitely got a lot more resources to DCFS, but it's not translating to improved outcomes," Golbert said. "That's what has to happen now."
In September, DCFS got a scathing report card on how it has been doing the last two years, revealing 33 major failures by the department.
When Illinois' most vulnerable kids are in their darkest moments, it is the job of the Department of Children and Family Services to shine a light on what has gone wrong. But a just-released Illinois Auditor General's report, examining the last two years of DCFS performance, finds the list of missteps by the department is growing, not shrinking.
Numerous children died while on the DCFS radar over those two years, Meanwhile, many issues at DCFS have gone uncorrected for much longer.
"You can see some of these findings are on repeat dating back more than 25 years," Cook County Chief Deputy Public Guardian Alpa Patel said last week.
The department's misfires include waiting days and weeks and months to notify authorities - from prosecutors to school districts - when calamity strikes.
In the most serious cases involving child death, injury, torture, malnutrition, and sex abuse, it is DCFS' job to notify - within 24 hours - local authorities like the state's attorneys of credible cases.
DCFS failed to do so 20 percent of the time - in some cases waiting five to 43 days. The report says this has been happening since 2012.
"A huge sense of in terms of lack of urgency in terms of what the department needs to be doing," Patel said.
Patel said that lack of urgency - for an agency that costs $1.8 billion a year to operate - costs the lives of some of the state's most vulnerable.
When there are cases of sex abuse at school, state law calls for DCFS to notify the school when the investigation is complete.
The report shows when credible evidence of abuse is found, in 96 percent of cases, DCFS failed to quickly notify the school - in some cases leaving school districts in the dark for between 431 and 908 days.
DCFS accepted the recommendations in the report for improving the behavior outlined by the auditor general.
Meantime, with Mueller set to take over at DCFS next month, DJJ deputy director of programs Robert Vickery will serve as interim DJJ director while the governor searches for a permanent leader for the agency.