Jed Davis, a house representative from Illinois, emphasized the necessity for child-welfare investigations to be conducted by qualified professionals. This measure aims to protect families from wrongful separation and ensure accountability. Davis made this statement on the Prairie State Wire Podcast.
“We’re not trading baseball cards,” said Davis, State Representative from Illinois. “We’re literally dealing with kids’ lives and parental rights. So you cannot afford to miss things in these pivotal investigations.”
Illinois lawmakers have increased their scrutiny of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) following a report by the state Auditor General in July 2025. The report cited 34 violations, 29 of which were repeat offenses, highlighting issues such as investigative backlogs and compliance failures. Legislative hearings have since concentrated on staff shortages, missing children, and unfiled reports following child fatalities.
According to the Illinois DCFS Executive Statistical Summary from September 2025, investigators are managing caseloads that exceed recommended standards, averaging over 20 cases each month. The report indicates that despite continued reliance on simulation-based training and mandatory Child Welfare Employee Licensure (CWEL), persistent turnover among field investigators hampers compliance with statutory timelines.
Historical analysis reveals that Illinois’ DCFS once faced a 74.5% reversal rate for “indicated” findings on appeal, as documented in Dupuy v. McDonald litigation. In comparison, audits in states like Pennsylvania and Louisiana show lower but still significant error rates, raising concerns about due process and evidence thresholds in child abuse registries.
State Representative Jed Davis serves on the Illinois House Adoption & Child Welfare and Family Law committees. He has sponsored legislation addressing DCFS oversight, parental rights, and foster-care reforms. Davis has publicly criticized the agency’s reliance on uncertified staff for investigations.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), established in 1964, is responsible for overseeing child protection, foster care, and adoption services under state and federal law. It reports to both the governor and legislature while maintaining accountability through the Auditor General and the Office of Inspector General. The department is required to issue annual performance reports.
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FULL, UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT
Bryan Hyde: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Prairie State Wire Podcast. I’m Brian Hyde. I’m joined today by Representative Jed Davis, who is a legislator in the state of Illinois. Jed, you represent the 75 or 75th district in Illinois. Tell us a little bit about yourself, and then let’s dive into a topic that really needs some discussion.
Jed Davis: Yeah, for sure. Great being here. Appreciate the opportunity. State rep of the 75th, which is not too far outside of Chicago, just maybe an hour, hour and a half southwest of downtown, been here as my second term foster parents. Uh, so definitely engaged in the whole world of DCFS have been for about a decade now, fostering multiple placements through the year.
So I think that’s why this topic we’re gonna discuss today, hits so close, so close to home.
Bryan Hyde: I mean, it’s a sad reality that there are people out there who do horrible things to, to children, and, and there there is a need for, you know, accountability and people holding them responsible. And, and so I, I [00:01:00] can say there’s a place for, you know, the Department of Child and, and Family Services or Child Protective Services that may be called in other states, but there’s also a danger that comes along with that.
And you have, have been, you’ve uncovered a, a problem in Illinois that really needs to be addressed. Earning DCFS and, and some of the people who are working for it and making very big life altering decisions.
Jed Davis: Yeah. Yeah. And, and I’m right there with you. I mean, as a foster parent, I’ve seen firsthand instances where, while this kid is in harm’s way, and, and I’m glad to be a refuge, to be a, whether it’s a temporary refuge or even our youngest, we’ve adopted through foster care.
So it’s, at times it becomes a permanent. A permanent home. She carries the last name Davis now, and she’s a spitfire. A lot of energy, but love her dearly. But yeah, the, uh, the thing we’re about to talk about, I, I kind of stumbled on, I had a almost constituent just outside of my district, not very far. Her case file kind of ran across [00:02:00] my desk through a mutual friend that was like, Jed, wow, you really need to take a look at this and digging through it.
A long story short and interned was the lead primary investigator. On that case, and the scary thing is, is when DCFS signs off on an investigation, it goes into a court of law. So it’s now sitting before a judge who is looking at that investigation and making some assumptions as they should, but assuming that all the boxes were checked, that the proper protocol was followed, and a nok knock against interns, we’re all interns at some point in our life, but when you don’t have the relevant experience, you’ll miss things.
We’re not, I always say we’re not trading baseball cards. We’re literally dealing with kids’ lives and, and parental rights. So you cannot afford to miss things in these pivotal investigations.
Bryan Hyde: And, and I just want to clarify, when we talk about interns, what we’re talking about is people working for DCFS who are [00:03:00] uncertified and under Illinois law, unqualified, but are still n nevertheless, investigating families and, and making decisions that as, as you point out, have very far reaching consequences.
Jed Davis: Yeah. Yeah, there’s, there’s two different things and the department, DCFS, department of Children and Family Services are trying to tell me they’re one and the same, which is asinine to me because Illinois law is very clear and then their own internal documents through the years contradict what they’re trying to proclaim publicly now.
But there’s licensure, which is the cwell child welfare employee license, CWEL. Everyone that goes into child welfare will take this exam. Then that gives them the license to kind of start having activity in that world. That license is not the same as certification. Certification comes later through experience and some other criteria, but experience is the big key.
Know when you’re an intern, you need zero experience to get your C [00:04:00] Well, I equate to, I’m an engineer. When I graduated civil engineering school in 2000, I took an exam to become an engineer intern. I passed, but then you need 40 years of experience before you can then start stamping plans. You don’t want me running around stamping public improvement plans when I have no experience.
And then I ask Johnny Q Public to drive across the bridge that I just designed with no oversight. So same thing here. They’ve got a license, but man, they lack the experience, which you need. ’cause again, we’re not. We’re not dealing with, with remedial things. These are people’s lives. So you need that experience, and that’s the certification, which is crystal clear in the law that DCFS is trying to tell me the license is the certification, which is scary.
Because that doesn’t agree with Illinois law, correct? It doesn’t. And and here’s the crazy thing. So like in 2017 they changed it from four years. You used to need four years of experience to [00:05:00] run an investigation as a, as a certified child protection specialist, which would be like the lead investigator that went to two years.
But now their statement, so it went from four to two. So you still need two years of relevant, professional, real world firsthand experience. But now they’re trying to tell me, no, no, Jed, the seewell is the certification. So they’re saying, yeah, in 2017 we went from four to two, but now. If you’ve got your license, which again, you need zero experience to take that exam, just like I needed a zero, I just needed a degree, I needed my bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, I could take the intern exam.
Same thing. You need your bachelor’s degree in some related field for child welfare, and you can take your seawall exam. But they’re saying, Hey, that exam, that license, once you pass. Qualify as a certification. Let’s send these individuals out, put them on people’s doorsteps and give them the authority to remove children.[00:06:00]
That is a really alarming world, I think, that we no one wants to live in.
Bryan Hyde: So was it right to right after this change in 2017 that that Child Protective Services started to use these interns in this fashion? Or is that something that, that crept in later? I, I’m curious, where did it
Jed Davis: begin? I, I think it’s kind of crept in through the years.
We’re digging into that and they’re, again, I’m not out on some like Jed Davis branch. I’ve really tried to vet this thoroughly to make sure that I’m reading the law right. I’m reading their own internal documents correctly. ’cause there’s. OIG reports, office of the Inspector General that are reviewing DCFS cases and they, in their own language will say, this was an intern who was not certified.
So I’m like, man, you’re including this language in reports from like 2017, but then today in 2025, you’re totally contradicting that. Not to repeat myself, but saying that the license is the certification. I’m like, this is crazy. ’cause again, the statute and [00:07:00] your own internal documents tell me otherwise. So yeah, it is.
It is just a world that I think creates a lot of problems because it’s a sacred world and you want the experience or the the ability to remove biological kids from homes.
Bryan Hyde: So for, for people who aren’t familiar with, in other words, haven’t had interaction with Child Protective Services or DCFS, it, it may seem like, well, you know, what’s the difference?
You know, they’re all working for the same people and they all have the same interest in mind. I’m guessing most of the people who would, would try to excuse it, probably don’t understand the immense amount of power that is given to these DCFS investigators.
Jed Davis: Yeah, it, it is. And so it, it’s not real and I’m not trying to like laugh it off and I’m like, it’s not real until it’s happening to you.
And you’re starting to wonder. ’cause you always think this could never happen. You know, you have, you kind of place the department [00:08:00] on, on a pedestal because again, they, I, I’m not saying they don’t have the best interest of kids in, in mind and at heart. I truly believe they do. They have just gotten so large and such a behemoth department.
That it’s really hard to bring clear direction and change, and then you start things just start slipping and eroding. Anytime things grow and grow and grow, you get all these different processes that it’s hard to provide clear, distinct direction and maintain the integrity. And I think it’s just broken down through the years.
And they do. They come in. These investigators have the ability to remove your child. And there are cases all over Illinois where rightfully so the children should be removed. But I can guarantee you, and we’ve run into cases like the one that crossed my desk where things were overlooked, they checked off some boxes.
Interviewing the parents without interviewing the family physician, without actually doing a very thorough [00:09:00] interview. They just kinda went off a one little roomed interview, wrote a report up, and then shifted into the judge and said, it’s good. And the judge looks at it as gold because they’re trusting the department to do their thing.
So now this family is 70 grand to date in, in. Into battling the department to free their kids from the system. And not to keep talking, but Can I make one more point? Oh, please do. They could, uh, like. I don’t wanna say cop a plea deal. I mean, I don’t know what the legal term would be, but the department could and try to, ’cause I also talked to the state’s attorney saying, Hey, if the family would just agree to these terms, I think everything would get cleared up.
While those terms are now the government involved in every aspect of your life for years. Questioning every parental decision you make and overseeing and qualifying your home with a fine tooth comb like they are up in every aspect I am. I’m a licensed [00:10:00] foster home, so I willingly invite it, but they’re in checking my water temperature, checking all of the storage, checking all of our medication, and now if you’re the parent agreeing to this, that is, it gets ratcheted up quite a bit.
So you’re in essence admitting guilt. You’re saying, I’m guilty. I need your help. Please come walk alongside me and help me parent my own children for, for an indefinite period of time for something that you never even, you know, the investigation was an illegal investigation to begin with, so. Man, it’s easy to say, well just, just take it, get your kids back.
But like, what would you do in that situation? You would hope that the justice system would be on your side and right is right and wrong is wrong. So we’re gonna fight this and get vindicated. But again, you’re 70 grand into it and you might be second guessing those decisions at this point.
Bryan Hyde: Yeah. The situation you just described, oops, isn’t, isn’t gonna cover, you know, the kind of harm that that can be done.
And I’m talking long-term harm. Let’s [00:11:00] talk solutions. What needs to happen regarding policy in Illinois to make sure that the families aren’t put at risk with interns making these, you know, life-changing decisions?
Jed Davis: Yeah. Well first the department needs to. Stop trying to protect themselves legally. I, I think they’re really afraid of a legal issue here, which they’re facing.
Again, I, I said earlier, I’m not standing out on a GED limb. Like I’ve talked to really prominent attorneys from downtown Chicago, just to make sure I have my facts straight. ’cause I’m kind of staking my reputation on a lot of this. So I wanna make sure I’m not out in left field. And these individuals are like Jed.
And it’s not just a 15 minute phone call. They’ve locked themselves in a conference room for literally a week or more reviewing every document imaginable and coming back and telling me, Jed, the laws on your side. So I think, and I’m not a part of this, but those individuals I’m sure are gonna pursue legal action on a larger scale, which is where the department is probably trying to protect themselves.
So [00:12:00] you’ve got that issue. I, I just wish there were just. Fall on the sword per se and just be like, man, we were wrong. Whatever we need to do to make it right, let’s do it and let’s move forward in good faith together. I’ve got some legislative solutions. We’ll, we’ll file here. They’re in draft mode already.
One is a public facing database, so if, if, if you do find yourself, somebody knocking on your door saying, I’m here to investigate you, you can log in and verify that that individual is legitimately with the department, but then you can also verify that they hold both the licensure. And the certification to be at your door running that investigation.
And if they don’t, man, I think you have the legal ability to decline them and say you need to bring someone who has the lawful authority to actually conduct this official investigation.
Bryan Hyde: I have to ask this as far as D-C-F-D-C-F-S leadership, not wanting to, to, to play by the, the, the law. What’s the, what is their motivation or what’s the incentive for them [00:13:00] to continue business as usual, rather than saying, oops, may a culpa, you know, we, we’ll fix what we need to fix.
Jed Davis: Yeah, I mean, they’re under, they’re under a lot of of pressure, not just on this issue, but a host of other issues. So I’m sure they’re kind of running from one fire to another. And again, this issue, I think, unravels a really large legal exposure for them that I’m not an attorney, again, I’m a civil engineer, but I, I would think the liability of this is not.
Thousands. It is easily millions. So I’m sure they’re really trying to be defensive in that regard and shore up whatever they need to do internally in, in the wake of this coming Adam in the near future. But again, I wish we would just lay all of that aside ’cause this isn’t. And a car accident and you’re trying to determine like who is at fault.
Like these are kids’ lives and I’ve seen it, man. I’ve seen kids come in our, into our house, leave our house, and come back and all of these movements [00:14:00] are, are. Decades long of emotional scars and trauma that will take literally, when I say decades, it will take decades to unravel. So we need to just recognize what we’re dealing with here, that it’s real emotion, human life, and and do the right thing.
Bryan Hyde: And Jed, what would you say to. Citizens within Illinois who may say, well, but I’m, you know, I’m not a foster parent. I’m a good parent. I’ve never had any kind of an encounter with DCFS. How do we convince them that they too have a stake in, in this issue?
Jed Davis: I, I bet if you start asking around, you know, it’s kinda like, uh, when you get diagnosed with cancer or, I mean, that’s kind of really a grave example.
Or you buy a new car and you’re looking up and down the road and all of a sudden you see that car everywhere. You know, my wife and I had a miscarriage a years ago now, but. You talk about that, all of a sudden it’s like, wow, there’s a, a lot of people who have experienced this. I mean, I can just think off the top of my head of three or [00:15:00] four different families who found themselves in this position and they never dreamt they would be there.
Thankfully, all of them were unfounded. You know, they actually did an investigation and, and it. Came back unfounded. And that’s great because I would rather have, you know, no child abuse happening than reports coming back founded. But man, if you are the investigator, like, so if you find yourself in this situation, I would just ask yourself this question.
If you find yourself in this situation, who do you want investigating you? You want, you’re going in for that cancer surgery. You’re going in for the life offspring treatment. Do you want the guy right outta medical school or do you want the trained surgeon about a pet of scalpel on your body? Like you want somebody with the experience, which is why the law is written the way that it is to be the one doing the investigation and, and then the systems are hopefully there to have the right checks and balances and protect the kids.
And no harm, no foul in a lot of that. And, and you can save the kids that need to be saved and unfound the [00:16:00] investigations that need to be unfounded, but you want the experience.
Bryan Hyde: Okay. Two questions before we, we wrap things up today. First one is for people who wish to become better informed on this issue, are there resources that you would direct them to to, to help get their minds around it?
Jed Davis: Oh man, that’s a great question. I mean, I’m an open book. People can call or text me anytime my cell phone is out in the public domain. You can link it on here, whatever. So I mean, definitely feel free to reach out to me. And even if you’re ever considering becoming a foster parent, I would love to answer those questions.
’cause we need a great foster homes and I think people have a lot more capability in them than they may think they have within themselves. But you can also reach out. There’s great parental rights organizations. Ones protect parents’ rights on Facebook. They’re a great group that is actively engaged in the case that I’m talking about, and I’m sure there are others out there.
But yeah, I would just poke around. You might have some organizations right in your backyard that you didn’t even know existed.
Bryan Hyde: Okay. Second question is, let’s, let’s give a call to [00:17:00] action for those who feel like, you know what? You’re right. This is an issue that I would like to put my influence behind.
What steps can they take to to help affect the changes that need to be made?
Jed Davis: Man, engage. Engage politically, and I don’t mean from a campaign perspective. I mean from the actual like state side perspective. Engage your local representative, your local senator, and start talking about these issues. See where does the law fall in your state, man, if there’s an investigator coming up, what credentials do they need?
Should we look deeper into what the actual, like what’s on the books and wherever we live. And again, I think experience would be key for this. I, I think universal, red, blue, white, whatever color you are on the political spectrum, you would want someone with the, with experience at your doorstep. I think that would be universal agreements.
So I would see what’s on the books in your state and then engage and I, that’s the cry I’ve been putting all across here in Illinois is man, engage with your local official and tell them to put [00:18:00] pressure on DCFS to do the right thing.
Bryan Hyde: Once again, we’ve been visiting with state representative Jed Davis, representing Illinois 75th District.
Jed, I appreciate you. I, I feel like you, you’re sticking your neck out, but I think you’re doing it for the right reason. Yeah. People who wish to contact you, what’s
the
Jed Davis: best way to find you? Yeah. You can find me@repjeddavis.com or you can call or text me anytime. Cell phone is (630) 724-7600.
Bryan Hyde: Thank you so much for being our guest today on the Prairie State Wire Podcast.
Thank you.
