DCFS could even help IDJJ obtain more federal funding.

“This really gives us an opportunity to examine (IDJJ) from top to bottom and see where improvements could be made,” Irving says, “For example, we could tap into federal funds through Medicaid, so they could get better mental health and substance abuse treatment. … Because DCFS so much understands the emotional, psychological needs of youth, they are aware of so many other funding sources that weren’t really tapped into or focused on.”

Pat Connell from the John Howard Association has reservations about the possible merger. Although DCFS is set up to handle children and will likely be more receptive to the rehabilitation model of corrections, it lacks the infrastructure and skills of a correctional system, according to Connell.

“DCFS has not been dealing with this population,” she says. “I don’t know if they have any significant number of staff within the department who necessarily have the experience or skills to deal with this population.”

Additionally, there are some functions that IDOC performs for IDJJ, for which there is no corollary in DCFS, Connell notes.

“The whole intelligence function, figuring out who is in which gang and which gang is in which community, does not exist in DCFS,” she offers as an example.

“Identification of people in a justice system is a big issue. Do we have the right person? Is it the same person who’s wanted somewhere else? It requires links to state and local police. All of that stuff is provided by IDOC, and there’s nothing in DCFS that is similar.”

The changes that would need to be made to DCFS to accommodate IDJJ would cost more money, she says, discounting the idea of a revenue-neutral transition.

“I don’t think the director of DCFS would say he has an excess of resources,” Connell says. “A couple of things could happen: child welfare kids could get shortchanged, or DJJ kids could continue to be shortchanged.”

The possible merger would mark a shift for the attitudes and procedures of juvenile justice in Illinois, Irving notes, but there would still be plenty of work to do afterward.

“It gives us an opportunity to fully evaluate the department, open it up, scout it out and see how it’s working,” Irving says. “It’s an indication of the heightened level of attention that delinquent youth are going to receive. It’s going to be an ongoing, constant incorporation of best practices, to constantly be about making the department as strong as it possibly can be.”

Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].