McHenry Co. courts launch program to help abused, neglected children

In an effort to improve and ease the legal journey for children taken from their homes in cases of abuse or neglect, McHenry County this month launched a three-year program to analyze how well it is serving those kids' needs and find ways to do better.

The county is one of five in Illinois, and the only one in suburban Chicago, chosen by the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts to participate in the pilot program funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Over the next three years, the county will track data including the amount of time each child spends in the system, whether the children disproportionately come from one ethnic, age or gender group and whether ultimate results vary based on those factors.

"I really believe we are doing fairly well," Court Administrator Dan Wallis said. "But me saying it and testing it out are two different things."

The data tracking will keep tabs of factors along nine key measures, Wallis said, that involve timeliness in child protection cases, ensuring safety of the children involved, due process and permanency.

In some instances, tracking and analyzing the data may be walking a fine line between trying to crunch numbers to find areas to improve and the reality that in these situations, matters truly are handled on a case-by-case basis. A case that runs 18 months may be too long for one child, not long enough for another.

"From a business aspect, we don't want these cases to run too long, but from a human aspect - the most important aspect - you want to do what's best for these children," Wallis said.

"Once the data is collected, that's the fun part," he added. "We'll use it to make informed decisions and changes in the system."