New bill would expand who can be a DCFS investigator

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — A new bill is aiming to expand who can be an investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).

Right now, child welfare investigators usually have social work backgrounds.

HB 125 in the Illinois legislature would broaden that.

Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, says people with criminal justice backgrounds are just as qualified to be investigators.

These are the people that go into homes and assess a child's situation if their safety is in question.

Scherer said it'll also help the department's longtime staffing shortages.

"It allows a criminal justice degree as a certification for a child protective investigator," Scherer told a House health committee Monday.

If this bill sounds familiar, it's because it almost got through last year.

It had bipartisan support, but it was halted when COVID-19 hit.

Not everyone is on board with this change.

The National Association of Social Workers in Illinois said this change would make DCFS feel like a corrections agency, replacing social work backgrounds with law enforcement backgrounds.

That bill is now headed to the House floor.

The committee also heard two other DCFS-related bills Monday.

Rep. Terra Costa Howard, D-Glen Ellyn, presented a bill that would allow professionals in medicine and law to serve on the DCFS Child Welfare Service Employee License Board.

This board handles license revocations for child welfare service employees.

Costa Howard also introduced a bill that would help DCFS come into compliance for Path Beyond Adoption phone line.

It would change the language to allow DCFS to respond in one business day, as opposed to 24 hours, to accommodate weekend calls.