Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Statewide Citizen's Committee on Abuse and Neglect met March 1.
Call to order: Veatrice Crawford, Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:31am
I. Introductions/Roll:
The following members were present via WebEx: Mary Bennett, Mary Hardy-Hall, Judi Bradley, Vea Crawford, Mary Jane Forney, Joe Hemphill, Dr. Kousiki Patra, Dr. Jackie Sharp, Alice Staley, Delilah Nelson
Members not present: Dr. Lisa Vinson (excused), Jaclin Davis (excused), Nancie Brown, Judge Ericka Sanders, Diane Scruggs, Denise McCaffrey (excused).
II. NEW BUSINESS
A. Infants with Prenatal Substance Exposure or Fetal Alcohol
• Working with Substance Affected Families Presentation- Maria Miller, Deputy Director Child Protection and Stacy Short, Associate Deputy Director of Child Protection
o Anytime DCFS is made aware of a newborn with a controlled substance in their system, DCFS must notify the State’s Attorney immediately.
o Fetal Alcohol System, alcohol/drug withdrawal, or any controlled system in blood, urine, umbilical cord, or meconium, is considered neglect.
o Calls are made to hotline when mother/infant have controlled substance in system at birth, hotline staff determines if this instance meets criteria for abuse/neglect
o After a report, assigned worker goes to assess safety
o Protective custody may be taken or intact services could be utilized
o Online reporting too
Questions:
Vea: Where is the online reporting tool?
Answer: There is a link online
Dr. Patra: Would love to see this information get disseminated more, especially to colleagues. Moving away from universal drug testing and focus on education for mothers. We want to make this equitable and not screen unnecessarily. What are thoughts on this?
Maria: We do need focus to be on education, especially during prenatal appointments with mothers. Dr. Sharp: From the Advocacy Center referrals, are there any hotline calls from folks asking for help? Maria: FACs are mandated reporters, so if there is a belief of abuse/neglect they have to call. FACs are meant for families to get resources or services, same as Child Welfare Services (CWS)
Dr. Patra: What kinds of services are offered? Our families in the clinic have a bad reaction when DCFS is mentioned
Maria: There is a whole array provided through intact- connecting to public health, food pantry housing, transportation, counseling, etc. we have services to help families, to create safety nets.
B. Home Visitation Program
• Home Visiting Services Presentation- Thay Guirguis Home Visiting Clinical Supervisor
o Community resource available for families, regardless of involvement with child welfare service involvement
o Work directly with families prenatal-preschool/kindergarten families can get support well beyond intact services
o Want to help pregnant mothers and ensure prenatal care
Questions:
Dr. Sharp: When a case is in intact and also placement it is totally up to the family to decide if they want the home visiting services? How does the development assessment work?
Thay: It is voluntary to have home visiting and development assessment- spend the first hour going through different tools, talking, play games, making connection. Allow parent to share concerns. About 2-3 years is the timespan
Dr. Patra: I have gotten feedback from patients that pandemic affected services quite a bit. How has the pandemic affected the home visiting?
Thay: Telehealth was used for early intervention, for families with transportation issues that helped a lot. I agree a lot more families want to be seen in person. For home visiting, they were extremely adaptable to virtual component and now both are provided, family can choose.
Mary Hardy-Hall: Is there a list of services and where they are?
Thay: We have everyone come through us, we are the central point of contact.
Vea: Is there a work around to wait times for assessments?
Thay: We can provide activities or resources while waiting.
Welcome packet discussed will be sent to members
III. Announcements/Emerging Needs/New Business/ Newsworthy Items
• File Review potential date for March 29th, Kara will follow up
• Concern for positive communication from DCFS, would like to discuss further moving forward on how best to get the ‘good’ pushed out to the public.
• Shauna McGuire, previous SCAN member would like to be reconsidered.
o Mary Bennett motioned to push forward, Alice Staley seconded
A. Next Meeting April 19, 2023
Meeting Adjourned 11:59pm
https://dcfs.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dcfs/documents/about-us/impact-public-policy/documents/sccan/sccan-minutes-030123.pdf
Alerts Sign-up