Newsroom > In Our Words > Department of Child Services Ombudsman...
August 28, 2017

Department of Child Services Ombudsman Bureau: What is it?

Written By

Raymond P. Dudlo
Member, Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC

In 2009, the Indiana legislature created an Ombudsman Bureau for the Department of Child Services (DCS). The mission of the Ombudsman Bureau is to respond to complaints concerning DCS’s actions or omissions. In essence, the Ombudsman Bureau investigates complaints about DCS. The purpose of those investigations is to ultimately improve DCS and to promote public confidence in that agency.

Many people are unaware of the Ombudsman Bureau’s existence and how to contact them. For instance, in 2013, the Ombudsman Bureau of DCS opened a total of 210 cases for the entire state. The Ombudsman Bureau is not part of DCS, but is instead a separate entity of the State of Indiana, particularly the Indiana Department of Administration. This allows the Ombudsman to investigate complaints regarding DCS independently.

Complaints to the Ombudsman must be submitted in writing to their office in Indianapolis. A complaint form is provided online, and a link to the Ombudsman Bureau’s website is found below. Before submitting a complaint to the Ombudsman Bureau, you are required to try to resolve your issue at the local level, meaning through your local DCS office. Each county in Indiana has a local DCS office, which is in charge of investigating abuse and neglect for children in their county and to manage those cases they have concerning children within their county. Each case or investigation is headed by a family case manager (FCM). That FCM has a supervisor. Each local office contains a director, who manages and oversees the Supervisors and FCM’s in their office. If you have a complaint or concern that should be addressed, you should try to resolve the issue by first contacting the FCM, their supervisor and their director if necessary.

If you feel that an issue still remains, then the Ombudsman may be able to provide help.

Ultimately, the purpose of the Ombudsman Bureau is to improve DCS. Therefore, if you know of a situation, case or investigation that you believed was handled inappropriately, by submitting a complaint you can help improve and even change DCS’s policy statewide.

Here is a link to the DCS’s Ombudsman Bureau’s website:  http://www.in.gov/idoa/2610.htm

 

Written By

Photo of Raymond P. Dudlo.
Raymond P. Dudlo

Related Articles

View More
April 16, 2024
New Indiana Law Will End Ban on “Happy Hour,” Permit Carry-out Alcohol, and Establish New Liquor Liability Insurance Requirements
As of July 1, 2024, Indiana will no longer be on one of the unhappiest lists in the United States: U.S. States that ban happy hours. Throughout the 1980s, various states, including Indiana in 1985, banned happy hours, defined as a specific time during the day when alcoholic drinks are discounted for patrons. As such, […]
March 4, 2024
Corporate Transparency Act Series:  Is the CTA on “Pause”? 
On Friday, March 1, 2024, an Alabama federal district court issued its decision in National Small Business United v. Yellen, holding that the Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA”) is unconstitutional. The plaintiffs argued that, in enacting the CTA, Congress exceeded the enumerated powers granted to it under the U.S. Constitution.  The federal government argued that […]
February 28, 2024
Corporate Transparency Act Series:  Why the CTA?
In a recent SKO Insider, we provided a quick introduction to the now-effective Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) and promised more information about this new law.  Before going into the CTA’s requirements, we have fielded many questions that come down to “Why the CTA?” So let’s get that out of the way. In recent years the […]