The newly appointed Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Bobbie Gregg, cites budget constraints, staff morale and continuity issues as significant challenges facing the department. Since 1991, the department has operated under a federal court consent decree designed to improve the care and services DCFS provides to children under its care. The terms of the consent decree, which is monitored by the ACLU of Illinois, established department operating standards, including caseload maximums for child abuse investigators. Benjamin Wolf, associate legal director of the ACLU of Illinois maintains that Gregg needs to immediately address the departments deteriorating level of operations:
“She needs to bring things back up to a minimally competent level,” Wolf said, “and I don’t think they’re there now.”