Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Republican lawmakers want answers after, in recent years, several foster children in the Department of Children and Family Services care ended up dead, and at least in one case, a caseworker tied to one of the children that ended up dead has a criminal record.  And, they’re also blaming Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration.

It wasn’t until Capitol News Illinois started reporting on the death last year of a teen in St. Clair County that lawmakers claim they had learned of it, even though the law says DCFS has 90 days with which to do a report unless it’s a criminal matter and prosecutors object.

State Representative Tom Weber says that’s not the only instance of the rules not being followed.

“Since July, 2018, DCFS has failed to produce incident-specific reports for over 1,200 children — child deaths — and more than 3,000 serious injuries under the Abuse and Neglected Child Reporting Act,” said Weber (R-Lake Villa).

Another lawmaker — State Rep. Steve Reick — says he should have been notified for a number of reasons, chief among them, his spot on the Joint Committee for Administrative Rules, and should never have learned about such a death in the media first.

“We’re not getting anywhere because we’re stymied by no information, no communication, no ability to go deeper into these investigative reports until the horse is long out of the barn,” said Reick (R-Woodstock).

In some cases, reports are allowed not to be released if there is also a criminal investigation, and if lawyers object.  This week, in the St. Clair County death, prosecutors said they didn’t object to the DCFS report being released.  Another concern is that a caseworker assigned to this case prior to the teen’s death was hired despite having a criminal record.

Weber and other Republicans say Governor Pritzker can’t shirk his responsibilities anymore and want things like an inspector general and for Democrats to even consider some of the reforms they’ve proposed in the past.  Pritzker this week reportedly said “the buck stops with me” in terms of the scandal-plagued DCFS.

“I don’t know any of us that would have our jobs after six years of failures.  This isn’t just failures; this is fatal mismanagement,” said State Rep. Nicole La Ha (R-Homer Glen).  “The buck does stop with (Pritzker).  He’s overseeing these things.  This isn’t an us versus them.  This is something where we can all be working together.”

The three lawmakers held a press conference with reporters Thursday via Zoom.