CHICAGO (AP) - The director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services resigned Wednesday in the face of an ethics probe and as the agency is in the midst of a controversy over a recent child death.
George Sheldon resigned to accept a position at a nonprofit in his home state of Florida. DCFS General Counsel Lise Spacapan will serve as interim director during a search for a full-time replacement, according to Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration.
During his two years at DCFS, Sheldon was adroit at obtaining federal funds and creating opportunities for wards who grew up in state custody. However, there is an ongoing ethics probe into contracts that benefited some of his Florida associates.
DCFS Inspector General Denise Kane announced in May that her office and the Office of the Illinois Executive Inspector General have opened a joint investigation into some of the agency's actions under Sheldon, who was appointed by Rauner in February 2015. Sheldon previously ran Florida's Department of Children and Families and was an acting assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' agency for Children and Families.
There also have been several high-profile child fatalities, the latest being the death of Semaj Crosby. The toddler was reported missing shortly after DCFS investigators visited her Joliet Township home. The 1-year-old girl's body was found April 26 under a couch.
Last week, DCFS released a report reviewing the agency's actions leading up to the death of Semaj. The report states Semaj's family's case came to the attention of DCFS in September of 2016. The case files involved Semaj and her mother Sheri Gordon, father James Crosby, aunt Lakerisha Crosby and three siblings.
The report says that while allegations of inadequate supervision and drug use in the home were unfounded, an intact family case was opened. The action was taken to provide the family with "housing support and parenting assistance."
Although Sheldon conceded problems with the handling of Semaj's case by DCFS investigators, he said, based on his review, neither the girl nor her siblings should have been removed from the home.