The state’s child welfare agency says it has nowhere else to put the children. Opponents call it cruel, and a civil rights violation.
Highlights
- WBEZ first reported on the crisis in 2015.
- 84 children in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services were left in the juvenile detention center after a judge ordered their release.
- One boy, originally detained on a robbery case, is still being held more than eight months after he was released.
- The state pledged to make changes after the story first aired in 2015, but data show the numbers have been ticking up ever since.
- In the three years leading up to the story, nearly 350 DCFS wards spent a week or more in jail waiting on the state — an average of more than 100 kids per year.
- The average wait time was 70 days, down to 30 days.