Kendall County Times

Rep. David Welter supports Rep. Deanne Mazzochi in calling out the Department of Children and Family Services for its inability to assign children to appropriate housing.

Welter spoke at a press conference about DCFS Director Marc Smith being repeatedly held in contempt of court. Welter criticizes Gov. J.B. Pritzker for failing to enact meaningful changes within DCFS.

"As Representative Mazzochi mentioned, since January of this year, DCFS Director Marc Smith has been held in contempt of court 6 times," Welter said. "Actually, this morning I believe there was another contempt hearing. But this is a continuous cycle that we will probably continue to see unless action is taken. He's done nothing to change the way his agency is handling these cases, which is why he continues to receive these citations for willful, repeated violations of court orders. Equally distressing: since this first came to our attention, there have been crickets from Gov. Pritzker."

WBBM in Chicago reported that two children died from abuse despite being under the supervision of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Both the deaths are currently under investigation for possible abuse at the hands of their parents, Chicago Wire reported. 

"In May of 2019, Pritzker said, and I quote, 'This agency and children under its care were neglected for years. That changes right now.' Well, folks, it's 2022, and nothing has changed," Welter said.

On March 17, Smith was held in contempt of court for the seventh time in 10 weeks, CBS reported. In this case, there was a 16-year-old boy who had to spend more than 375 days in DCFS custody in a shelter. He was not given the right resources to support his cognitive and intellectual disabilities, according to the report.

Smith was paid a salary of more than $110,000 in 2019, according to GovSalaries. The average salary of an Illinois state employee in 2019 was $66,819.