Today, in response to an emergency motion brought by attorneys for Catholic Charities, attorneys for the State of Illinois, Office of the Attorney General, announced in court that the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) would reverse course and resume the referral of new foster care cases to the Charities. After Catholic Charities won a preliminary injunction last week, DCFS responded by ceasing referrals of children in need of foster care and adoption services to the Charities. The Charities' emergency motion presented today sought to clarify that the status quo under the preliminary injunction included the continuation of new referrals. A copy of the emergency filing is here.
The emergency filing pointed out that when Judge John Schmidt entered the preliminary injunction, he ordered DCFS to continue its relationship with Catholic Charities as it stood prior to the expiration date of last year's contracts on June 30, 2011. Usual practice as of June 30 included referring children in need of care.
The Charities were also given leave to file a motion by Friday to amend their complaint both to add new claims and to add as a new plaintiff to the lawsuit the charitable arm of the Diocese of Belleville, Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois.
The Court has given the parties until July 29 to file motions for summary judgment, with responses due one week later. Hearing on the motions remains set at August 17, 9 a.m.
Contact: Tom Ciesielka
