I am a parent and someone called DCFS on me, what should I do?

Unfortunately there is no simple or easy answer that covers how to respond when someone calls DCFS about you. Each case is different and has a different answer. But understanding how the DCFS and Juvenile Court systems work on cases involving parents, children and claims of child abuse is a good first step.

If I am working with a lawyer on a case involving my children, should I let my lawyer know if DCFS has been called on me?

Yes. The first thing to remember is that if you have an attorney working with you on the issue, you should always discuss your steps with the attorney. For people who do not have a lawyer working with them, you should consider whether you want to talk to a lawyer. Many DCFS investigations do not end up with a court or the police being involved. But many do end up in court, and some can lead to criminal charges. This article describes what happens in DCFS investigations so that you can understand what will happen. We will start with describing what happens when a call goes to DCFS.

What happens when someone calls DCFS?

DCFS stands for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. It is the agency that has the responsibility in Illinois to investigate claims of child abuse and neglect. When someone calls the DCFS Hotline (1-800-25-ABUSE), someone at the DCFS hotline first decides whether to take the call. This means that the person at DCFS must decide whether the reporter (the person calling the hotline) has reasonable cause to believe that a child has been abused or neglected, that the child is under 18, and that the report meets a number of other factors which DCFS and state law have determined are necessary to accept a report.

If the person at DCFS decides to take the call, he or she gets more information about the case, and the information constitutes a report of child abuse or neglect. The next step is a DCFS investigation.

What happens in a DCFS investigation?

First, someone at DCFS is assigned to investigate the case. This person is often from a division in DCFS called the Division of Child Protection (DCP for short). This person will generally talk to a number of different people. These people include:

• the person making the report
• the person accused of abusing or neglecting a child
• other people in the family, and
• persons who may be able to provide some helpful information about the circumstances.

Once again, DCFS regulations list all of the people who must be talked to. In certain investigations, DCFS conducts its investigation jointly with the police.

The purpose of the DCFS investigation is to find out if the child was abused and to decide whether the child (or children) are at risk in a home. If you are the person being investigated for possible child abuse or neglect, you should know that the investigation can affect your life in a number of different ways. Some of the main ways it can affect your life are:

• A DCFS call can lead to a criminal investigation of what you are accused of doing and can lead to criminal charges against you; or
• The DCFS investigation can lead to a case under the Illinois Juvenile Court Case which could lead to your losing custody of your child and/or the eventual termination of parental rights; or
• DCFS can believe that you have abused or neglected your child, but decide to leave the child in your home while requiring you to follow a certain plan. DCFS may put the plan in writing. You should always ask for a copy of the plan so that you have a record of it; or
• DCFS can also decide to make an agreement with you to keep the case from Juvenile Court if you agree to place the child with someone else. Sometimes this will mean that you place the child in someone else’s guardianship, like a relative. For more information on what guardianship is click here. Once again, you should ask for a copy of the plan.

You should also know that a call to DCFS can affect you if you are in the middle of a child custody proceeding. For example, if you are in a child custody dispute with a former spouse, and it is learned that DCFS has investigated you, a judge may want to learn what the result of the investigation was and why you were being investigated. A Person should never call DCFS to harass another person in a child custody case.

Is it wrong to make a false report of child abuse to DCFS if you know it is false?

Under Illinois law any person who knowingly makes a false report to DCFS commits the offense of disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor. Punishment can includes up to 6 months of jail and a fine of up to $500.

I’ve heard of something called “Indicated” child abuse reports and “Unfounded” child abuse reports. What do these words mean?

If DCFS decides that there is credible evidence that you have abused or neglected a child, it designates the case as “indicated.” An indicated report goes into the permanent DCFS record called the Central Registry. Reports are kept in the Central Registry for a time period from 5 to 50 years depending on the severity of the incident. For some people, an indicated report can keep them from getting a job in a certain field.

In other cases, the result of an investigation is that DCFS decides that there is no credible evidence of abuse or neglect. In such circumstances DCFS designates the case as “unfounded.” In these circumstances DCFS usually destroys all records of the investigation within 36 months. But the person who is being investigated can ask DCFS to keep the records. Some people who want to show that they are being harassed have asked DCFS to keep the records of unfounded investigations.

What about situations where I disagree if DCFS decides the report should be indicated?

Persons who are “indicated” by a DCFS report have a right to appeal the finding that the report was indicated.

The following question was submitted to John Roska, an attorney/writer whose weekly newspaper column, "Q&A: The Law," runs in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Illinois Edition) and the Champaign News Gazette.

Question

I have two sons age 8 and 9, who show great responsibility for such a young age. My question is, under Illinois law, at what age can they be left home alone?

Answer

Many people think there’s an answer to this question, but there’s not. There is no law or regulation that I found that says when kids can be left home alone. The only real answer is, “it depends.”

There’s no law, for example, that would get you fined for just leaving your kids home alone. For better or worse, it takes a problem or a complaint to trigger child neglect laws, which are probably what you’re worried about. And those laws don’t deal directly with when kids can be left home alone. All I could find was a regulation that says a day care center can’t leave kids under 12 unattended in cars.

At most, those and other laws only give a hint at what could be considered an acceptable age for leaving kids home alone. For example, DCFS doesn’t regulate the care of children once they reach 12 years of age, and Federal tax law cuts off the child care deduction at age 13. Maybe those laws suggest an age when child care is no longer necessary. But that’s a stretch.

The bottom line is that, no matter how old your kids are, there’s no guarantee that you’re safe from legal problems if you leave them home alone.

But the real worry is not about you being safe from DCFS. It’s about your kids being safe from harm. And their safety depends on many things, like their ages, their maturity, and your neighborhood.

My local Child Care Resource office gave me an excellent guide for determining when “self-care” is appropriate. It’s based on The Handbook for Latchkey Children and Their Parents, by Lynette and Thomas Long. By answering a series of questions that consider many different factors, you can get a good idea of what to do. Their test suggests that, even under pretty much ideal conditions, you should be “hesitant” about leaving an 8 and 9 year old alone for more than 3 hours.