Lake County Gazette

Rep. Martin McLaughlin (R-IL) recently discussed the state's scandal-plagued Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) during an interview with the Lake County Gazette.

"I think we should have it where everything funnels through the regional court system," McLaughlin said. "That would allow for better management of these cases through the system."

McLaughlin also said that Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) is ignoring his responsibility to his state's children in order to present an overly positive image of things in Illinois.

"He’s trying to have everyone focused on his message of competency and have it where those who don’t see it that way don’t have a voice to speak out," he said. "The sad part is we know the names of the tragic outcomes and those children, but there are hundreds of others that are not being properly served whose names and stories we don’t know."

Cook County Guardian Charles Golbert recently filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the DCFS, accusing it of allowing innocent children to be kept in detention centers for weeks to months at a time without proper care, even after a judge had ordered many of them to be released into the care of their parents and guardians, ABC 7 reported.

"You don't feel safe. The staff don't make you feel safe either. They're not respectful to you. They treat you like nothing," said 18-year-old Janiah Caine, who was a charge of the DCFS as a minor and had spent a cumulative 166 days over three occasions in Cook County's Juvenile Detention Center, even after a judge had ordered her release. Caine is also one of the eight defendants named in Golbert's lawsuit.

In 2021, there were 84 instances of children being held in detention for prolonged periods of time, according to the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian. In the present, seven children are in the same situation.