An Illinois appeals court has tossed out contempt of court citations against the director of the state Department of Children and Family Services. But the court is still taking DCFS to task for failing to place children in appropriate settings in a timely fashion.
Agency director Marc Smith has been held in contempt around a dozen times for the agency’s failure to move children from psychiatric hospitals into foster care or group homes. Lower courts had held that Smith had “ignored” orders to move those children, leading to the citations for indirect civil contempt. But the appeals court found that Smith and DCFS had not ignored the orders and had tried… but failed… to find suitable placements.
However, the ruling also stated that Smith did not demonstrate a sense of “urgency” and repeatedly used “ineffective” methods to find proper placements.
