Illinois DCFS still falls short of Ta'Naja's Law, audit finds

Two-year-old Ta'Naja Barnes' 2019 death was so horrific that legislators passed a law in her honor to ensure the Department of Children and Family Services would provide abused and neglected kids with continued support services once they're returned to their parents. When she died, Ta'Naja was filthy and had a body temperature too low to measure. Just months before her death, DCFS returned Ta'Naja's care to her mother and her mother's boyfriend, who pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the toddler's death. On Wednesday, state auditors released their second audit finding DCFS has made progress but failed to comply with Ta'Naja's Law nearly six years after it went into effect. The 109-page audit conducted by Illinois Auditor General Christopher Meister covered 2023 to 2024. Under the law that went into effect in January 2020, home safety checklists must be completed within 24 hours before a child returns home. The checklists, a tool to evaluate a home for physical hazards, environmental risks, and basic living necessities before or during an open child welfare case, are required by law and the agency's own policies. They should be completed again within five days after a child is returned home, then monthly until the child's case is closed. One of the key findings was that DCFS provided only 18% of the required home safety checklists in a sample of 50 cases. While that is an improvement from the previous audit in 2022 when auditors found DCFS only provided 2% of required home safety checklists for the same sample size, it still falls short of the full implementation the legislature mandated six years ago.