CHICAGO, September 9, 2026 – Davis looked first at the clock, then at the social worker, and back at the clock. This should have been a checklist and a plan and a way home. Instead, two years down the line, her toddler Ta’Naja Barnes was dead—filthy, hypothermic, brought back to a home deemed fit by the system.
Wednesday, the auditors for the State of Illinois released the second report into Ta’Naja’s Law, the 2020 law passed in response to this tragedy. The 109-page audit, completed by Illinois Auditor General Christopher Meister in the 2023-2024 period, concluded that the Department of Children and Family Services has made strides in meeting its mandate, but still is noncompliant.
The catch is that the list of home safety checks, which must be conducted within 24 hours prior to returning a child home, as well as within five days after it and on a monthly basis thereafter until the closure of the case, was documented only in 18% of 50 sampled cases. While an improvement over the 2% of such checklists recorded during the 2022 audit, it’s still far below what’s explicitly stated by law.
The aftercare plans demonstrated better compliance, yet there were some deficiencies that didn’t appear. DCFS is supposed to develop an aftercare plan approved by the court 30 days before reunifying a family and then to provide for six months of aftercare service, including counselling, case management, behavioral health services, substance use treatment and connections to food, housing and employment opportunities. Six-months-long aftercare service couldn’t be evidenced in 13% of cases, compared to 58% previously.
Aftercare acts as the guard rail. Without it, family falls back into their old ways; and risks multiply.
The audit further highlighted that the medical paperwork of kids in government custody is incomplete. Out of the 50 kids that were tested for the audit, 16% did not have proof of physical examination that was required; 29% did not have proof of vision screening; 63% did not have proof of hearing tests and 51% did not have proof of dental check-up and cleaning.
DCFS said it “has continued to make progress” since the two-year window covered by the audit. “Additionally, of the recommendations from the original audit, three were fully implemented, and two were partially implemented,” the agency wrote in an emailed statement.
No one’s under any illusion that the job has been finished. The audit found repetition of six recommendations that were made back in 2022. These include: mandatory completion by caseworkers of home safety checklists; provision of at least six months of aftercare; routine healthcare and screening, including mental assessment; immunization according to age groups; accurate entry of completion date of service plan; and sufficient staffing for caseloads.
It doesn’t help that there’s frequent turnover of leadership within the organization. Presently serving DCFS Director Heidi Mueller, who was appointed in February 2024, is the 16th director of the agency in 21 years. In total, DCFS has reported an overall vacancy rate of 13% in child protection, intact family services, and permanency units.
The stakes for humans remain unchanged as well. The mother of Ta’Naja, Twanka Davis, will spend 20 years in prison having pleaded guilty to murder; meanwhile, the boyfriend, Anthony Myers, will spend 30 years there. Twanka Davis gave birth to another baby in prison; the infant was apprehended immediately upon being born. Another sibling of Ta’Naja was placed in DCFS’s custody due to Ta’Naja’s death.
So what’s supposed to happen now? The audit doesn’t provide any timeframes, just the set of expectations. Checklists have to be provided by caseworkers, aftercare plans have to be submitted to the court, and children in state custody have to receive their health care and immunizations. It’s a paperwork hell; however, it is also what will ensure that the plan is real and not just paperwork.
For families in the process of receiving visits, filling in forms, and receiving approvals, the equation is easy: more checklists, more aftercare, fewer vacancies, and, finally, compliance with the law, which has become inevitable six years after Ta’Naja’s death.
