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An emergency housing facility at the center of a court case that led to the state’s Department of Children and Family Services director being held in contempt of court was the subject of 161 service calls to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department in 2021.
The 12-bed facility is the Southern Thirty Adolescent Center near Mount Vernon. It is run by Lutheran Children and Family Services, and has a $1.9 million contract to house children in DCFS custody aged 11 to 17.
The facility is designed as a temporary shelter, offering children access to educational, mental health and other appropriate services for up to 30 days.
But DCFS spokesman Bill McCaffrey said the average stay there is 107 days.
It’s the same facility where DCFS placed a 13-year-old boy, identified only as C.R.M. in court documents, in emergency custody for months despite a judge’s order to move him to a more appropriate setting. Earlier this month Cook County Judge Patrick T. Murphy cited DCFS Director Marc Smith for contempt for failing to relocate the boy to a therapeutic foster home.
C.R.M. remained in STAC for nearly five months. Before arriving there on Aug. 14, the teen, who has severe mental disabilities, was originally placed in another temporary shelter in Chicago where he slept in a utility closet.
In the five months C.R.M. was at STAC, there were at least 26 calls made to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department.
Southern Thirty Adolescent Center is in rural Jefferson County. For nearly five months, it was home to a 13-year-old boy who was not moved out of the facility despite court orders and DCFS’ own recommendation to place the child in a therapeutic foster home.
Sheriff responded to southern Illinois DCFS shelter 161 times in one year
The 12-bed facility is the Southern Thirty Adolescent Center near Mount Vernon. It is run by Lutheran Children and Family Services, and has a $1.9 million contract to house children in DCFS custody aged 11 to 17.
The facility is designed as a temporary shelter, offering children access to educational, mental health and other appropriate services for up to 30 days.
But DCFS spokesman Bill McCaffrey said the average stay there is 107 days.
It’s the same facility where DCFS placed a 13-year-old boy, identified only as C.R.M. in court documents, in emergency custody for months despite a judge’s order to move him to a more appropriate setting. Earlier this month Cook County Judge Patrick T. Murphy cited DCFS Director Marc Smith for contempt for failing to relocate the boy to a therapeutic foster home.
C.R.M. remained in STAC for nearly five months. Before arriving there on Aug. 14, the teen, who has severe mental disabilities, was originally placed in another temporary shelter in Chicago where he slept in a utility closet.
In the five months C.R.M. was at STAC, there were at least 26 calls made to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department.
Southern Thirty Adolescent Center is in rural Jefferson County. For nearly five months, it was home to a 13-year-old boy who was not moved out of the facility despite court orders and DCFS’ own recommendation to place the child in a therapeutic foster home.
Sheriff responded to southern Illinois DCFS shelter 161 times in one year
