Union points to COVID-19, charges against two former DCFS employees as reasons behind staffing shortages

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has reached a "crisis point" at some of its offices in terms of staffing shortages partially related to COVID-19 concerns, the union representing DCFS workers said in an email to its membership.

The email, sent last week from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, addressed concerns regarding caseloads in understaffed offices throughout the state.

AFSCME, which represents Illinois' DCFS employees, warned DCFS workers that the department had 500 vacant positions and plans to reassign employees to assist with remote investigations in understaffed areas.

Issues related to COVID-19, news coverage and the recent prosecution of two former Woodstock DCFS employees have only amplified existing staffing woes within the department, according to the union's email.

By the end of August, DCFS had 2,726 of its 3,056 budgeted positions filled, department spokesman Bill McCaffrey said. By the department's count, that's 330 vacant positions, or a little more than 10%, about the start of September. That includes all staff, not only case investigators.

AFSCME Council 31 Public Affairs Director Anders Lindall could not immediately be reached for comment.

"Undoubtedly the pandemic has made it more difficult for the department to move forward with filling those vacancies. But it is also the case that DCFS has not had a sufficiently robust program to recruit, hire and train new staff," the union said in the email. "And hiring in DCFS becomes ever more difficult when media coverage highlights only the most troubled cases, never focusing on the lives that you are able to save."

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union confirmed that investigators working on the case of AJ Freund of Crystal Lake, whose body was discovered in a shallow grave in 2019, were swamped with caseloads that exceeded the limit of 12 to 15 cases a month set in a 1991 federal consent decree.

Two former DCFS employees assigned to a 2018 case regarding a large bruise on AJ's hip now face criminal charges, alleging reckless conduct and child endangerment in connection with the boy's death. Both men, Andrew Polovin, 48, and Carlos Acosta, 54, have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The prosecution of DCFS employees is rare, Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert said. Acosta and Polovin's cases are the only criminal charges against Illinois DCFS employees that Golbert could recall in his 30-year career, he said.

"It's also one of the only cases that became front-page national news," Golbert said.

McHenry County State's Attorney Patrick Kenneally declined to comment on the men's prosecution or how the criminal cases might affect the agency's staffing levels.

Since April 2019, DCFS hired more than 350 new staff, with an emphasis on front-line staff, according to the department's fiscal year 2021 budget briefing. Those new hires included 130 new investigators, 20 new employees at the hotline and 11 new bilingual employees, records show.

A May 2019 Illinois auditor general report found caseloads were too high for DCFS investigators, violating a 1991 federal consent decree that says investigators cannot exceed a caseload of 12 to 15 cases a month. More than a year later, the department continues to struggle with overwhelming caseloads, according to the Sept. 23 union email.

"In some DCFS offices, the situation has reached a crisis point. Of particular concern is Child Protection, where caseloads have risen to unmanageable levels," according to the email. "We have recently seen two DCP employees who were working with high caseloads not only disciplined with discharge for errors made in a case, but civilly sued and criminally charged."

Arresting and charging DCFS employees could have far-reaching consequences on staffing efforts and raises hard questions about who is culpable after a child death, Golbert said. Prosecuting only those employees involved in high-profile cases "reeks of political expediency, not of sound public policy," Golbert said.

"There are many, many AJs out there who did not become front-page national news," he said.

AFSCME's concern for child protection continues to grow as caseloads mount, according to the email.

"AFSCME proposed that employees in other offices be able to volunteer to have their own caseloads effectively frozen and to begin accepting cases from the understaffed offices," according to the email. "These investigations would be conducted remotely so that staff would not have to travel to another office during a pandemic."

DCFS management, however, allegedly declined to reassign cases on a voluntary basis, according to the email.

"Now it appears that DCFS management is planning to move ahead with this new program as soon as tomorrow [Sept. 24]," the email said. "If they do not immediately identify sufficient volunteers, they will begin directing staff of their choice to conduct remote investigations."

McCaffrey was unaware of such a policy as of Monday.

Employees should be accommodated to conduct their business safely during a global pandemic, Golbert said. But he fears that employees might be assigned to areas outside their expertise while dealing with the inherent setbacks of remote investigations, he said.

"You’re just begging for a tragedy when you do that," Golbert said.