Youth justice expert Heidi Mueller will head up embattled Illinois DCFS

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday named Heidi Mueller — a child welfare and juvenile justice expert — as head of the state’s embattled Department of Children and Family Services.

Mueller, who has served as director of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice since 2016, was selected after a national search. She will take the reins of the scandal-plagued agency beginning February 1, according to the governor’s office.

Mueller will become the agency’s 13th director, either acting or interim, in 14 years. Since 1964, DCFS has had 29 directors.

In 2020, Mueller launched the 21st Century Illinois Transformation Plan, which aimed to reshape the way youth are cared for in the juvenile justice system.

“The work Director Mueller has done at the Department of Juvenile Justice over the last several years has been transformative for the juvenile justice system in Illinois, and I am thrilled that she will bring her unique experience and talents to DCFS,” Pritzker said in a statement.

“Heidi’s care and compassion for the most at-risk young people in our state and her exceptional leadership are hallmarks of her career,” Pritzker added, “and I know that her passion and expertise will be a significant asset as we continue to improve our state’s child welfare system.”

Marc Smith, who announced his resignation as director last year after serving since 2019, is remaining in his role through January “to ensure a smooth transition,” the governor’s office stated.

DCFS staffers on Monday received an email notifying them that Smith would be remaining in his role until the new director began.

Smith’s resignation, announced in a call with staffers, came a week after a report from the Illinois auditor general found 33 instances of noncompliance, including that the department did not immediately report to state’s attorneys 28% of child abuse and neglect reports involving children who had tested positive for a controlled substance.

Smith’s controversial tenure included receiving multiple contempt citations from a Cook County judge last year for failing to place children under the care of the agency. But an appellate court panel in November 2022 ruled that the judge had abused his discretion with the findings against Smith, overturning 10 of them.

In the final days of December, DCFS released an annual report which revealed even more problems, including that in the last fiscal year, 218 children stayed for 30 days or more in what were supposed to be emergency, short-term placements. Of these children, 36.24% stayed in the temporary placements for more than four months — and the average age for the children was 11 years old.

Smith is one of the longest serving DCFS chiefs in recent history, serving more than four years as director. Jess McDonald served as the agency’s director for nine years between 1994 and 2003, with an earlier one-year stint in 1990.

Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert, who has been a vocal watchdog for the agency, said Mueller has “an outstanding reputation as a reform-minded manager.” Golbert, however, is concerned about the latest report, which also found that last year 160 children died despite some level of involvement with DCFS.

“These are not just statistics. They represent children, real children, our children,” Golbert said in an email. “I urge Director Mueller to make the expansion of DCFS’s placement capacity, and of high quality community-based services for children and families, an urgent priority. I also urge transparency, and that reform efforts be data-driven.”

A DCFS spokeswoman told the Sun-Times the agency has made “tremendous progress,” including investing $25 million last year for placement of children. The agency hopes to invest $30 million this year to restore and create more beds. The number of children being held “beyond medical necessity” at hospitals has also decreased.

The workforce of the agency has also increased, the spokeswoman said, with more than 3,400 employees — a level not seen for 15 years.