REPORT DIGEST

DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY
SERVICES

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 2022

Release Date:  September 26, 2023

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 33

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT -- TOTAL
Category 1:  5 -- 17 -- 22
Category 2:  5 -- 6 -- 11
Category 3:  0 -- 0 -- 0
TOTAL:  10 -- 23 -- 33

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 30

Category 1: Findings that are material
weaknesses in internal control and/or a
qualification on compliance with State
laws and regulations (material
noncompliance).
Category 2: Findings that are
significant deficiencies in internal
control and noncompliance with State
laws and regulations.
Category 3: Findings that have no
internal control issues but are in
noncompliance with State laws and
regulations.

State of Illinois, Office of the
Auditor General
FRANK J. MAUTINO, AUDITOR GENERAL

To obtain a copy of the Report contact:
Office of the Auditor General, Iles
Park Plaza, 740 E. Ash Street,
Springfield, IL 62703
(217) 782-6046 or TTY (888) 261-2887

This Report Digest and Full Report are
also available on the worldwide web at
www.auditor.illinois.gov


INTRODUCTION

Because of the significance and
pervasiveness of the findings described
within the report, we (the accountants)
expressed an adverse opinion on the
Department’s compliance with the
specified requirements which comprise a
State compliance examination.  The
Codification of Statements on Standards
for Attestation Engagements (AT-C §
205.74) states a practitioner “should
express an adverse opinion when the
practitioner, having obtained
sufficient appropriate evidence,
concludes that misstatements,
individually or in the aggregate, are
both material and pervasive to the
subject matter.”

Further, the digest covers our
Compliance Examination of the
Department for the two years ended June
30, 2022. A separate Financial Audit as
of and for the year ended June 30,
2022, was previously released on June
22, 2023. In total, this report
contains 33 findings, 3 of which were
reported in the Financial Audit.

SYNOPSIS
• (22-05) The Department failed to
comply with several sections of the
Abused and Neglected Child Reporting
Act.
• (22-06) The Department failed to
comply with the School Code.
• (22-11) The Department did not
adequately document the monitoring of
its provider agencies for compliance
with contract terms.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

NONCOMPLIANCE WITH ABUSED AND NEGLECTED
CHILD REPORTING ACT

The Department of Children and Family
Services (Department) failed to comply
with several sections of the Abused and
Neglected Child Reporting Act (Act)
(325 ILCS 5) during the examination
period.

We tested several sections of the Act
and noted the following exceptions:

• The Department did not immediately
communicate the investigation reports
of child abuse and neglect for a
newborn infant whose blood, urine, or
meconium contains any amount of a
controlled substance to the State’s
attorneys’ offices for 17 (28%) of 60
reports tested. Specifically, we noted
the State’s attorneys’ offices were
notified between 218 to 920 days from
report date.

• The Department notified the Directors
of DPH and HFS of the report of
suspected abuse or neglect of a child
alleged to have been abused or
neglected while receiving care in a
hospital 34 days to 885 days from the
investigation date for 15 of 15 (100%)
reports tested.

• The Department did not submit to the
General Assembly or Governor the fiscal
year 2021 and 2022 reports on the
effectiveness of the programs designed
to test the most effective approaches
to case management protocols for
Department clients with substance abuse
problems.

• The Department was required to file
four reports summarizing the number of
Unfounded Review and Indicated Reports
of Child Abuse and Neglect to the
General Assembly during the examination
period. The results of our testing
indicated the Department failed to
timely file 2 (50%) of the reports
required. Specifically, we noted the
reports due on December 1, 2021 and
June 1, 2022, were submitted to the
General Assembly 8 and 104 days late,
respectively.

• The Department did not timely notify
the children’s school of its final
findings from an indicated report of
child abuse and neglect within 10 days
of completing an investigation of
alleged physical or sexual abuse for 40
of the 40 (100%) indicated reports
tested.  Specifically, we noted the
schools were notified 129 to 890 days
late.

• The Department did not timely notify
the local enforcement personnel and the
office of the State’s attorney of the
involved county for 5 of 25 (20%)
reports tested. Specifically, we noted
the local enforcement personnel and the
office of the State’s attorney were
notified of a report alleging the death
of a child, serious injury to a child,
torture of a child, malnutrition of a
child, and sexual abuse to a child 5 to
43 days after the required 24-hour
timeframe. (Finding 5, pages 27-32)
This finding has been reported since
2012.

We recommended the Department
immediately refer all reports of child
abuse and neglect for a newborn infant
whose blood, urine, or meconium
contains any amount of a controlled
substance to the appropriate State’s
attorney’s office and to update
procedures and provide training to
staff to accomplish compliance with the
Act; notify the Director of DPH and HFS
within a reasonable timeframe, when the
Department receives a report of
suspected abuse or neglect of a child
and the child is alleged to have been
abused or neglected while receiving
care in a hospital; ensure the timely
submission of all reports required by
the Act to the General Assembly and
Governor; strengthen its monitoring and
procedures for investigators to ensure
they provide copy of its final findings
from an indicated report of child abuse
and neglect to the child’s school
within 10 days of completing an
investigation of alleged physical or
sexual abuse under the Act; ensure
local law enforcement personnel and the
office of the State’s attorney of the
involved county of the receipt of any
report alleging the death of a child,
serious injury to a child are timely
notified.

The Department agreed with the
recommendation. Please see the full
State Compliance Examination Report for
further details of the Department’s
response for each of the bullet points
noted above.

NONCOMPLIANCE WITH THE SCHOOL CODE

The Department failed to comply with
the School Code (Code) (105 ILCS
5/22-85(j)).

During our testing of 25 alleged
incident of sexual abuse
investigations, we noted that for 24 of
25 (96%) indicated investigations
tested, the Department did not timely
notify the relevant schools when an
investigation of an alleged incident of
sexual abuse was completed.
Specifically, we noted the
notifications were sent to relevant
schools between 431 to 908 days from
the investigation report date. (Finding
6, pages 33-34)

We recommended the Department timely
notify the relevant school of the child
involved in the investigation when the
investigation of alleged incident of
sexual abuse is completed.

The Department agreed with the
recommendation and stated it has
strengthened its monitoring and
procedures for investigators to ensure
statutory compliance by providing a
copy of its final findings from an
indicated report of child abuse and
neglect to the child’s school within 10
days of completing an investigation of
alleged physical or sexual abuse under
the Act. Further the Department stated,
in September of 2022, the Chief Deputy
of Child Protection and the State
Central Registry along with the Deputy
of Child Protection, visited all 10
subregions across the state and met
with every child protection supervisor,
area administrator and regional
administrator, issuing a memorandum in
September 2022, instructing staff of
this requirement and providing clear
direction on how to execute this
procedure.  Across the state,
investigators implored change to the
existing statute as they believe this
requirement violates the privacy of the
family by revealing (only to the
public-school administrators) the
private matters of the child.

LACK OF DOCUMENTATION OF MONITORING OF
CONTRACTS WITH PROVIDER AGENCIES

The Department did not adequately
document the monitoring of its provider
agencies for compliance with contract
terms.

The Department could not provide
documentation demonstrating it had
conducted monitoring of its non-
substitute care service provider
agencies. The non-substitute care
provider agencies provide services
which include, but are not limited to,
counseling, habilitation, advocacy
centers, system-of-care grants, and
other child specific services.
Specifically, we noted the Department
was unable to provide documentation it
had conducted monitoring, as specified
in the contracts, for 12 of 60 (20%)
contracts tested. Total grants expended
for the 12 contracts during fiscal
years 2021 and 2022 totaled
$15,593,544. Due to the Department
being unable to provide documentation
to demonstrate it had conducted
monitoring, we cannot determine whether
annual reviews required to be submitted
by 9 of 12 grantees were performed by
Department staff. (Finding 11, pages
47-48) This finding has been reported
since 2012.

We recommended the Department perform
and document adequate monitoring on all
contracts to ensure contract payments
are for services received and program
plans and performance goals of the
provider agencies are achieved.

The Department agreed with the finding
and stated it will ensure staff serving
in the contract monitoring role are
performing monitoring duties pursuant
to program plans.  The Department
further stated it has added regional
leadership roles to increase the
oversight of regional based staff after
facing staffing shortages during the
time of this audit which was also
during the global pandemic. Lastly, the
Department stated it is also pursuing a
new performance monitoring tool to aid
in tracking and documentation of
monitoring agency contracts.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings are reportedly
being given attention by the
Department. We will review the
Department’s progress towards the
implementation of our recommendations
in our next State compliance
examination.

AUDITOR’S OPINION

The financial audit report was
previously released.  The auditors
stated the Department as of and for the
year ended June 30, 2022 are fairly
stated in all material respects.

ACCOUNTANT’S OPINION

The accountants conducted a State
compliance examination of the
Department for the two years ended June
30, 2022, as required by the Illinois
State Auditing Act.  Because of the
effect of noncompliance described in
Finding 2022-001 through 2022-022, the
accountants stated the Department did
not materially comply with the
requirements described in the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by Roth & Co. LLP.

JANE CLARK
Division Director

This report is transmitted in
accordance with Section 3-14 of the
Illinois State Auditing Act.

FRANK J. MAUTINO
Auditor General

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