A bizarre case even for DCFS

Past performances by our chronically woebegone state Departmentof Children and Family Services don't leave benumbed readers,taxpayers and DCFS victims much room for shock or surprise.

But how's this for bizarre, even by DCFS standards andprecedent?

Sunrya Lewis got herself licensed as a foster parent by CentralBaptist Services, a DCFS contractor agency, which then placed aninfant boy in her care, for which DCFS pays her.A resident of Chicago's South Side, Lewis then proceeded to filea paternity suit against her former boyfriend, charging that he wasthe father of the foster child.She also represented herself as the boy's mother and presentedhim as such in court.A judge ordered blood tests, which established that the oldboyfriend was not the father - and, of course, that Lewis was not themother of the boy, who was born in November, 1997.The boy's biological parents are known to DCFS, which had takencustody from the parents only about a month after his birth.Lewis' aim in filing the paternity suit, officials believe, wasto shake down the former boyfriend for money.When Chicago police determined that the boy was in foster careand that Lewis was lying, she was charged with perjury and is due incourt Dec. 18.And now we get to the really bizarre bit. Central BaptistServices has taken the position that Lewis is still fit to be theboy's foster mother, and the boy still is living with her.Police informed the Cook County public guardian's office of theLewis case on Nov. 23, the day she was arrested and charged withperjury.Lawyers from the guardian's office informed DCFS on the sameday. They also spoke with DCFS attorneys on Nov. 24, Dec. 2 and Dec.3, recommending that the boy be removed from Lewis' care.Lawyers from the guardian's office also took up the issue with acaseworker, Sheila Evans, and a supervisor, Kim Blackwell, at CentralBaptist.They were told that Central Baptist had decided - based oninformation provided by Lewis, of all people - that the boy shouldremain in the home and care of Lewis.The guardian's office lawyers also were told that the decisionfollowed "an internal staffing (review)" at Central Baptist and thatLewis would be getting "individual counseling," whatever that meansfor someone facing perjury prosecution.Public Guardian Patrick Murphy filed a motion in Juvenile Courtlast Monday asking that the court order DCFS to select an alternativeplacement for the boy. A hearing on the motion is set for today.Murphy also wrote to DCFS Director Jess McDonald, saying hehoped DCFS would "without court order require Central Baptist to takethe minor out of the home" of Lewis.On Wednesday I called DCFS, and spokeswoman Maudlyne Ihejirikatold me a private foster care contractor "retains decision-making"authority "until and unless DCFS has reason to intervene.""We have that now," Ihejirika said, and a DCFS team will bereviewing the Lewis case internally on Friday - the day afterMurphy's court hearing.Murphy holds that DCFS' extensive privatization of its fostercare responsibilities "is a good idea run amok."He does "not believe that every private (foster care) agencyshould be permitted to license and monitor their own foster parents.. . . There should be one licensing agency, DCFS, and one computerfrom which all other agencies pull their foster homes."Ihejirika said she and DCFS colleagues were "appalled" at theLewis case. She referred to Lewis' paternity lawsuit as "the mostbizarre thing" she has ever seen in a DCFS case.Well, it comes close, I suppose. For now.