The below statement can be attributed to Heidi Dalenberg, Director of the Institutional Reform Project, ACLU of Illinois:
“We learned that yesterday another foster child was shackled during a DCFS transport. This is a clear violation of the child’s rights and DCFS’ promise to us, to the Court in B.H., and to all youth in care.
This is not a question of policy – this is about common decency. People should not need training or elaborate approval protocols to know that you don’t shackle children.
Just a few weeks ago – after previous, outrageous reports that children were being transported in shackles – DCFS agreed they would only use soft restraints in the rare circumstance when restraints were absolutely necessary, and they made the same promised to a federal court. Yet here we are again.
Anyone in the DCFS chain of command who either signed off on this transport knowing that shackles would be used, or who saw that occur, should step down from their position. No such person can be trusted to care for our children.
As for DCFS’ process and forms for approving restraints during transports, it’s clear that DCFS has to be taken out of that picture altogether. From here forward, we will be demanding that DCFS only use medical transport companies who are trained to properly handle children when there is a concern they might hurt themselves or others during a transport.”
