Public Accountability Report
Department of Children and Family Services
(Appropriated Spending in Thousands)
| FY |
FY |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting Programs | Expenditures | Headcount | Expenditures | Headcount |
| Family Reunification and Substitute Care | $ 1,145,004.9 | 1,318.0 | $ 1,025,658.5 | 1,081.0 |
| Protective Services | $ 236,605.4 | 1,547.0 | $ 188,679.0 | 1,350.0 |
| Adoption and Guardianship | $ 214,303.8 | 116.0 | $ 194,799.8 | 88.0 |
| Family Maintenance | $ 122,181.6 | 188.0 | $ 106,830.1 | 145.0 |
| Accountability | $ 75,963.6 | 512.0 | $ 61,792.5 | 483.0 |
| Totals | $ 1,794,059.3 | 3,681.0 | $ 1,577,759.9 | 3,147.0 |
Amounts may not sum to total due to rounding.
Agency Narrative
In fiscal year 2024, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has seen its hotline calls, investigation numbers, and the number and percentage of investigations deemed to have credible evidence that abuse or neglect have occurred remain stable. Intact Family Services has remained stable while foster care programs have continued to decline. Although there has been an increase in FTEs, two of the largest challenges facing the department in fiscal year 2024 were staffing shortages and availability of resources, including placement and community-based treatment options. While the department has a relatively healthy staffing level in administration and support services, there have been consistent challenges with staffing and retaining frontline workers. This has caused a strain on our current staff, and the department is committed to a rigorous recruitment effort to increase frontline staffing to appropriate levels. Although we continue to struggle in this area, 99.4% of our investigations are initiated within 24 hours, and our workers complete 99.9% of our investigations in a timely manner. We are focused on our recruitment efforts for additional foster homes, but this challenge is expected to continue with the implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act.
Despite continued challenges, DCFS has performed strong on a wide variety of benchmarks. We have lowered the percentage of Screening, Assessment, and Support Services (SASS) and Crisis and Referral Entry Services (CARES) hotline calls that are abandoned (the goal is no more than 8% per month) to all time low of 0.07%. We continue to see increases in guardianships, days from adoption goal to adoption finalization continue to decrease, and adoptions and guardianships have continued to remain very stable. Regarding adoption preservation services, a large majority of our clients report that post-adoption services help with their immediate needs and increase families’ level of functioning. We continue to place the largest proportion of youth in relatives' homes. We will continue to strive to increase permanency numbers for youth in care, assist families with remaining intact, and continue protecting our youth in the safest way possible. Going forward, the department hopes to continue developing and implementing innovative strategies to better serve the youth and families of Illinois.
