Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday named a juvenile justice commissioner to take over the troubled Department of Children and Family Services.
Heidi Mueller, 49, will replace Mark D. Smith, who has been at the helm since 2019 and has been charged with multiple contempt of court charges for improperly housing young people in the agency's care. Become. Mr Smith announced his resignation in October and will assist in the transition until January.
Mueller has served as the head of the Department of Juvenile Justice since 2016. The agency oversees the custody of youth placed in the state's custody by Illinois courts.
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“We have seen firsthand the critical importance of a strong and supportive safety net for our state's most vulnerable residents, and the tragedies that occur when that net is punctured,” Mueller said in a statement. She thanked Smith for “bringing real progress to DCFS.”
Mueller, who currently earns $173,250, was chosen after a national search. Pritzker said her “transformational” work in youth justice has garnered national attention.
“Heidi's care and compassion for our state's most at-risk youth, and her outstanding leadership, have been hallmarks of her career and will continue to help us continue to improve our state's child welfare system. I know her passion and expertise will be a significant asset,” Pritzker said in a statement.
Governor JB Pritzker greets voters during a campaign event in Bellwood, Illinois, on November 1, 2022. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Mr. Smith, 54, earns a salary of $210,000 and begins his term a few months into Mr. Pritzker's first term. Democrats have promised reforms and released an external report into agency failures, including the deaths of three children in their care in just a few months.
However, the sector continued to struggle. In 2022, Smith was charged with multiple contempt of court charges for failing to find suitable placements for youth in government care. Pritzker repeatedly accused his Republican predecessor of dismantling private social services agencies that could provide decent housing for young people during a budget stalemate with Democrats in Congress from 2015 to 2017.
The situation has hardly improved. According to DCFS' own annual employment report released last week, hundreds of children were placed in so-called temporary care facilities, sometimes for months at a time, during the fiscal year that ended last June. It has been revealed that he was admitted to a mental hospital beyond treatment and as a juvenile. They were incarcerated past their release dates because DCFS did not have space to house them.
The DCFS Inspector General's annual report released last week showed that 160 children with some connection to the agency died during the fiscal year.
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“Director of DCFS is perhaps the most difficult and important job in state government,” Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert said in a statement. He brings a wealth of experience.” The same firm is filing a class action lawsuit over the long-term stay in a psychiatric hospital and incarceration in a juvenile court. He called on Mueller to make expanding DCFS's placement capacity an urgent priority.
Heidi Dalenberg, interim legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which is also suing DCFS, said Mueller “must embrace the challenge of finding a safe place to stay, preferably with the child's family.” “We must turn our attention away from the large-scale incident,” he said. , institutional settings.
“This is a challenging job that requires a leader with a vision and a commitment to change,” Dalenberg said.
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Robert Vickery, currently the deputy director of programs for the Department of Juvenile Justice, will serve as interim director of the department while it searches for Mueller's permanent replacement.
