The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has reduced its day care licensing staff by 18.5 percent in three years, even though those workers are now responsible for twice as many facilities as called for by some national standards.
Though acknowledging DCFS needs more workers to inspect day care operators and additional staff to handle abuse and neglect cases, agency leaders are not asking for more money. New DCFS Director Richard Calica has insisted the agency can do more with less.
To address its failure to inspect 55 percent of day care facilities on an annual basis, as required by law, some yet-to-be-identified programs would be cut and new workers hired, spokesman Kendall Marlowe said, adding that DCFS did not know how many more staff members it would need, or how many would be hired, in the fiscal year beginning July 1.
The Legislature has reduced DCFS funding by nearly 10 percent in five years, and Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget proposes cutting another 5 percent, although about 2 percent would be offset by increases in federal funding.
At a recent House Appropriations Committee hearing, Calica urged lawmakers to support Quinn’s budget with the cuts to his agency.
Overall, nearly half of the agency’s 2,900 workers play a direct role in child protection and welfare, through answering 260,000 annual hotline calls of abuse and neglect or investigating the 60,000 of those calls that are deemed worthy of an inquiry, according to state figures.
The day care licensing workers handle an average of 100 facilities each. Licensing representatives who spoke to the Tribune said they not only inspect facilities, but are responsible for investigating complaints, following up on violations found during inspections, and coordinating with local health departments and fire officials. Plus, they noted, workers in less populated areas have more territory to cover and travel time.
