Michael Romain no longer with GCM

Michael Romain, long-time reporter, editor, columnist and DEI director for Growing Community Media, is no longer with our org anization.

Over many years, Michael Romain has done valuable work for the Austin Weekly News, Forest Park Review, Wednesday Jour nal and the Village Free Press, a publication he founded. We wish him the best going forward.

Haley Editor and Publisher

Growing Community Media

One of the plaintiffs, referred to as J.B. in the lawsuit, is a DCFS ward. He was jailed at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center for five-anda-half months despite having a court order in place for his release upon request for his entire stay.

The lawsuit stated that J.B. did not have access to educational services, mental health treatment or medical attention, specifically an eye exam. J.B. had limited contact with his family during his detention, according to the lawsuit.

Kate, another child in DCFS care, was jailed twice within five months despite a court order that mandated that DCFS place her in specialized foster care. Kate, who has multiple diagnoses including ADHD, post-traumatic stress disorder, a mood dysregulation disorder as well as oppositional defiant disorder, remained in detention for more than three months after a judge issued a release upon request order.

Golbert, who is the legal representative of J.B. and Kate in juvenile court proceedings, said detention causes additional trauma to already traumatized children, exposing them to unnecessary dangers and even violence.

“DCFS is not only cruelly accentuating the trauma of these young people, inflicting often irreparable har m on society’s most vulnerable, they are wasting local taxpayers’ money doing so,” Golbert said. “As we detail in today’s lawsuit, housing these children in appropriate settings with the full set of social services they need would cost local taxpayers half the cost of imprisoning them in settings that deprive them of these services and only make their symptoms much worse.”

DCFS director Smith faced 11 counts of civil contempt last year for failing to move children into appropriate placements, although they were later overtur ned by an appellate court, which ruled they were an abuse of judicial discretion. Golbert’s office represented the children, who were held in psychiatric facilities and hospitals beyond medical necessity, in the cases that resulted in Smith’s contempt of court charges

In a statement, DCFS spokesman William McCaffrey said the agency is working to add more placements

“Of course, we can only place youth where we have availability that meets their needs, which is why the department is also working to expand the capacity that was hollowed out under previous administrations,” he said in the statement. “Thanks to this work, in recent years we have made progress in reducing the number of youth who remain in the justice system past the date they are allowed to be released and we are deeply committed to continued progress.”

Asked about the lawsuit in a phone call Thursday from Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Pritzker said he had not seen it yet so he declined to comment.