The director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spoke about the death of a worker during a news conference. She was stabbed while she was at a home in south of Springfield. Benjamin H. Reed is accused of murder, battery and unlawful restraint. He is being held on a $5 million bond. In this photo, John O'Connor.
There are people in Illinois. The killing of a state child welfare worker during a home visit is the second such tragedy in less than five years.
The investigator with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was stabbed to death last Tuesday when she responded to a call of possible child neglect in a home in central Illinois.
Benjamin Reed, a man related to one or more of the six children who were at home at the time, is being held in the Sangamon County Jail without bond on first-degree murder and other charges. The Associated Press tried to reach Reed's attorney on Friday.
State officials and the social work community are asking what should have been done to prevent the death of Silas, the second time in four and a half years. Pamela Knight, an investigator with the Department of Children and Families, died after being beaten while trying to remove a child from his father.
Knight was alone when she was attacked. The Director of the Department of Children and Family Services said last week that agency protocol was followed when Silas visited the home in Thayer.
The 21st time since the beginning of the year that caseworkers were subject to threats or acts of violence during 2.5 million home visits in Illinois was the attack on Silas.
Her death has raised questions about why case workers are sent into potentially volatile environments alone, and whether understaffing affects the response of caseworkers in the field.
Roy Graham said last week that DCFS should just send two at a time. Sending two per visit is not just one, whether it is a male and female or two males or two females.
Police agencies have historically been willing to help. After Knight's death, that cooperation was strengthened. Law enforcement officers can cross into another jurisdiction to back up a home visit. Initially, Knight had police backup.
Knight had to check his grandparents' home in the next county because he wasn't at his father's home. She decided that the boy's safety was at risk if she waited for a new police agency. The boy's father beat and kicked her so badly that she died five months later.
Arnold Black, a child protection specialist and supervisor in the Urbana office, said that if a case worker or supervisor believes there should be two workers on a home visit, it's approved. The agency's administrative procedures on field safety state that there is no hesitancy to seek police backup.
Taking the police can make the client angry. You have to know the family. Black said that some families would yell and scream at you for the first five minutes, but they would let you in. If it is a newer case, or if it is in a rural area, I have no problem pulling another worker to go.
Black said that the problem is that workers are stretched out and sometimes they are plucked from other offices. The Urbana office has a shortage of more than 4% and agents on Black's team have a lot of cases to handle, in many cases exceeding the limit of a 1988 federal consent decree that limits the number of new cases assigned to each worker.
The Knight tragedy resulted in improved access to law enforcement records and office-based security guards for employees of the Department of Children and Families.
Black is a member of the committee that discusses issues with the management of the Department of Children and Family Services.
There are changes to the law that include self-defense and de-escalation training from the Illinois State Police, public service announcements to inform the public about caseworkers and their duties, and a law enforcement database like in Cook County that records not only arrests and convictions but any interaction police have
Newly hired investigators who make about $55,000 a year must complete a six-week training session that includes safety precautions, according to Bill McCaffrey. Once in the field, they must complete a training session within 90 days of starting under a supervisor.
Sara Feigenholtz, a Chicago Democrat and leader on child-welfare issues, said that the Department of Children and Families needs to build an infrastructure to recruit and retain employees. When the facts of Silas' death are public, she expects more immediate safety legislation.
If there are other resources we can give our frontline workers, we will be looking to see how we avoid this kind of situation.
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