West Cook News

The Office of the Cook County Public Guardian is admonishing Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Director Marc Smith for repeatedly being held in contempt of court for failing to find appropriate placements for children in DCFS care.

Smith has been issued 12 contempt citations so far in 2022, a recent CBS News report said. Most of the contempt citations are related to DCFS' failure to properly place children in its care, sometimes for months.

"Yesterday, DCFS Director Marc Smith was held in contempt of court and fined $1,000 per day," the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian wrote in a July 8 Facebook post. "This makes the TWELFTH time since January that Director Smith has been held in contempt of court for failing to place a child appropriately in violation of court orders. The twelfth contempt order involves a 15-year-old girl whom DCFS has kept detained in a locked psychiatric hospital where she has been ready for discharge since January 14, 2022 – more than 170 days longer than necessary."

Eight children who were supposed to be under the watch of Illinois' DCFS have died in the last eight months, WLS reported this week. Most recently, 8-year-old Amaria Osby was allegedly suffocated by her mother in her Chicago home at the end of May. Amaria's mother had been arrested in 2017 for driving drunk with the child in the car, which is when DCFS first became involved. A DCFS investigator had made contact with the family just hours before the child's murder and noted no concerns.

"The same system that's in place that was supposed to protect my daughter is the same system that failed my daughter," Demarcus Osby, Amaria's father, told WFS. Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert has called for a federal court to intervene.

After Smith's eighth contempt citation in March, CBS News Chicago asked Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker how many more times Smith will be issued contempt citations before action is taken.

"You're ignoring all of the progress that's been made at DCFS, and so is the decision to hold the department in contempt," the governor told the news agency. "The head of Department of Children and family Services, and I, and the judge are frustrated with the challenges that we face for our most vulnerable children."

Pritzker appointed Marc Smith to the position of acting director of the DCFS in April 2019. The Illinois Senate confirmed Smith as director in June 2021.