Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith has now been slapped with an eighth contempt of court order for failing to place a teen in the department's care appropriately.
In this case, a 14-year-old girl was taken into temporary DCFS custody last September. Since then, she has been moved 21 times. She was stuck in a psychiatric hospital and was then moved around to different shelters, hospital emergency rooms, DCFS offices, and emergency foster placements.
In February, the judge ordered DCFS to place the teen in a residential facility. That order was not carried out, and the teen ran away. The judge then issued a second order that DCFS was to immediately place the youth in a residential facility as soon as she was found. Again, that court order was not followed.
In court, the DCFS listed facilities where they are trying to get her placed, and said some residential homes are not available due to staffing issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The department has filed appeals on several of these court orders, which have included $1,000-a-day fines until the youth is properly placed. came down against Smith earlier this month.