Law mandates safety checklists before and after reunification with parents
A 109-page state audit released Wednesday found that the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has made progress but still fails to comply with Ta’Naja’s Law nearly six years after the statute took effect, according to Illinois Auditor General Christopher Meister. The audit covered 2023 and 2024 and is the second compliance review of the law since its enactment.
Ta’Naja’s Law took effect in January 2020. Under the law, home safety checklists must be completed within 24 hours before a child is returned home. The checklists evaluate a home for physical hazards, environmental risks, and basic living necessities before or during an open child welfare case, and are required by both the statute and DCFS’s own policies. After reunification, the same checklists must be completed again within five days, and then monthly until the child’s case is closed.
The law was passed in response to the 2019 death of Ta’Naja Barnes. Months before her death, DCFS had returned her care to her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. When she died, Ta’Naja was filthy and had a body temperature too low to measure. The boyfriend later pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to her death. Legislators named the law in her honor to ensure the agency would provide continued support services to abused and neglected children after they are returned to their parents.