From Kyle Hillman at the National Association of Social Workers, Illinois Chapter…

While we are not surprised, we are still disappointed to hear the news that actions to protect social workers, case workers and investigators of DCFS are once again relying on sentence enhancements proven to be ineffective.

While we grieve for the families who are facing the unthinkable tragedies before them, we are reminded that these tragedies were preventable and a result of unsafe and unsupported work environments that ask employees of DCFS to engage in highly dangerous situations without the same precautions afforded to other at-risk professions.

Social Workers, Case Managers, and Investigators at DCFS already have strong enhanced penalty legislation, in fact, they are one of the only professions written into the same legislation protecting legislators. 

It is a felony to even threaten one of these workers, much less assault one of them, and yet crimes against these workers continue and lives continue to be lost. [Emphasis added.]

Make no mistake the legislation being proposed will not prevent the next tragedy in DCFS just as existing penalty enhancements protecting these positions have also failed.

As a state, we need to look critically at existing DCFS policies that place these workers consistently in dangerous environments.

We need a complete overhaul how we do risk assessments on visits, how we create teams to investigate, the training provided to these teams including conflict de-escalation and safety assessments, and what technology for emergency situations are we providing these workers.

Social Work is not a calling, it is a licensed profession that demands safe work environments, supports and compensation equal to the risks being asked of them.

DCFS has failed to deliver this and the questions that should be asked is why and what changes are we making to rectify this.

The murder of Pamala Knight should have been a wake-up call for DCFS and the state, and yet several years later we are grieving yet another preventable death.

Several years later we are still discussing sentence enhancements that would neither have prevented these tragedies nor will prevent future ones.

a state we can make meaningful reforms that will prevent future families from having to experience these tragic moments.

Our hope is that the Governor and General Assembly will commit to ending this cycle of tragedies in the department and pass meaningful reforms that prevents violence from ever happening against our state workers.