DCFS charges 9 year old $30K, would-be adoptive mom says money is needed for child's future
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The state of Illinois made a nine-year-old girl pay for a month's stay in a psych hospital that she didn't need.
A bill totaling over $30,000.
She was in the care of the state child welfare agency, DCFS, who defends the practice. Only on 2 — Chris Tye speaks with the woman who wants to be her adoptive mother.
She is speaking out about the pain it's causing and how they're working to get that money back.
She's been crying, almost nonstop, because she wants to be done. She wants to change her name.
"She wants to start school next year with her new name."
But that new name and new start can't happen until a four-year-old billing issue is resolved. In 2019 the girl, identified in court documents as "MM" was nine years old.
When the state couldn't find a placement for her, after time spent at a West Side psychiatric hospital, they left her there for a month. No school no friends, no playtime.
Because it was beyond medical necessity, Medicaid wouldn't pay the $34,200 bill. The state child welfare agency, DCFS, was left to pay it.
And state law allowed DCFS to reimburse itself by taking from an account being saved for MM from her deceased father's Social Security benefits.
But taking the money to pay off a pricey hospital overstay because DCFS had no other place to put her?
The Cook County public guardian, Charles Golbert, took DCFS to court in a first-of-its-kind case in Cook County, demanding they repay the girl's account.
"A lot of the foster kids end up being homeless, they say. I now can see why. DCFS is taking their money from them."
Laura Wright wants to be MM's adoptive mother. She said the money would be invested for adulthood after the girl lost both parents early in life.
"It's going away for them to go to college, to get a car and to get a house," Wright said.
She said they've had to freeze in place their efforts to adopt, because once they're adopted, they fall off DCFS radar, making it much tougher to recoup those dollars.
The judge has yet to rule on whether she'll get that money back. She's being placed with her sister whose also had benefit money taken by DCFS.
Both left in limbo until the state bureaucracy can be resolved.
"They just want to be kids again," said Wright.
DCFS said they complied with all state rules in reimbursing themselves in this way.
A judge has given the state until mid-June to show the math on how the girl's money has been spent, and will then decide whether their accounts should be reimbursed by DCFS.
UPDATE 06/14/23: The Cook County Public Guardian's Office has been advised by DCFS that the girl will get the $34,000 back.
