Judge orders DCFS director to answer for repeated failures to release public documents in child death

SPRINGFIELD — A circuit court judge in Sangamon County threatened Tuesday to begin assessing daily fines against the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for its repeated failure to appear in court or comply with orders to hand over documents related to the death of a teenager who was in the agency’s care.

Judge Jack Davis II issued an order Tuesday for DCFS Director Heidi Mueller to appear personally at a Sept. 9 hearing to show cause why she and the agency should not continue to be held in contempt over repeated refusals to appear in court or comply with orders to produce records related to an 18-year-old girl who died while in foster care in 2024.

Capitol News Illinois sued for access to the personnel records of two caseworkers and one supervisor who were responsible for monitoring Mackenzi Felmlee, the girl who died.

According to doctors, Mackenzi died May 11, 2024, from a blood clot that hit her lungs. She was found struggling to breathe at the bottom of the basement stairs in a Fairview Heights foster home. Doctors reported she died of a blood clot that hit her lungs. Her neck, shoulders, legs and face were bruised, and her dehydrated body weighed just 90 pounds.

Her foster mother, Shemeka Williams, and foster grandmother, Cornelia Reid, are charged with murder in connection with Mackenzi’s death. Both are currently being held in the St. Clair County Jail.

Williams was licensed through Lutheran Children and Family Services, a nonprofit agency that provides foster care services on contract with DCFS.

According to a timeline of the incident released by DCFS, Williams purportedly told an LCFS caseworker during an in-person visit that Mackenzi was “struggling” two days before her death. The caseworker, however, did not document that conversation until five days after Mackenzi’s death.

LCFS later reported the visit was made by phone, not in person.

As part of an investigative reporting project, Capitol News Illinois requested copies of the personnel files of two caseworkers and one supervisor assigned to Mackenzi’s case. DCFS denied that request.

In March, Springfield attorney Don Craven filed suit on behalf of CNI and reporter Beth Hundsdorfer, alleging DCFS violated the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and asking for an order to compel DCFS to produce the records. DCFS did not respond to that lawsuit and, when the case was called for a hearing in June, attorneys for the agency did not appear.

On June 10, Judge Davis issued an order finding DCFS “willfully and intentionally violated” the Freedom of Information Act when it failed to release the requested information. He also ordered DCFS to produce the records within five days and to pay CNI’s costs, attorney fees and a $5,000 civil penalty.

After DCFS failed to respond to that order, CNI filed another motion asking the court to order DCFS and Mueller to appear personally and explain the noncompliance with the court’s previous order.

But when that motion was called for a hearing Tuesday, DCFS again failed to appear.

Davis then set another hearing date for Sept. 9 and ordered DCFS and Mueller to appear or face additional sanctions. Davis could then order “appropriate coercive penalties,” including ordering them to pay $1,000 a day for each day of noncompliance.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.