Delaware DSCYF – Youth Care and Placement
Special Report- October 2026
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Report Summary
Background
On December 12, 2024, the Office of Auditor of Accounts (AOA) received allegations through the AOA Fraud Hotline that the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families (DSCYF) was mistreating children under State care and wasting State of Delaware resources in the process. The complaint specifically alleged that due to a lack of other suitable options, youth under the care of DSCYF’s Division of Family Services (DFS) are sometimes required to sleep on the floor of Division of Family Services (DFS) office space under poor conditions. Additionally, the complaint alleged that DSCYF regularly placed juveniles in out-of-state facilities at a high cost to the State.
AOA performed an evaluation in response to the allegations to evaluate the following for youth in DFS custody:
- The cost and process for sending youths to out-of-state facilities during the fiscal years ended June 30, 2023, 2024, and 2025
- The causes and risks of youth in-office stays
- The availability of other DSCYF facilities to house the youths
The evaluation found that DSCYF faces ongoing challenges in meeting the placement needs of youths because of limited in-state placement capacity, shortages of foster families and specialized service providers, and the absence of centralized oversight for certain placement activities. Although DSCYF evaluates each youth’s individual needs and available in-state resources before authorizing an out-of-state placement, the evaluation identified opportunities to strengthen continuity of care through improved coordination and documentation. The evaluation also found that limited placement options have resulted in some youths remaining temporarily in DFS office locations while appropriate placements are identified. Although these office stays are intended to be temporary, office facilities were not designed or equipped to provide residential care, creating operational and safety risks for both youths and staff. Existing State-operated juvenile facilities generally could not be used for these temporary placements because of statutory, operational, or programmatic limitations related to their correctional or treatment missions. At the time of the evaluation, DSCYF had already initiated efforts to address these challenges, including plans to develop a temporary placement facility in Sussex County using existing funding. If implemented as planned, the facility is expected to increase DSCYF’s capacity to provide appropriate temporary housing for youths awaiting placement.
The evaluation also determined that out-of-state placements will likely remain necessary when a youth’s treatment or behavioral needs cannot be met by available in-state resources. As a result, maintaining effective oversight, documentation, and monitoring of these placements remains essential. Similarly, until additional in-state placement capacity and foster care resources become available, DSCYF will continue to face the need for temporary emergency housing for some youths throughout Delaware.
The State Auditor is authorized to file special reports under 29 Del. C. § 2909.
Cover Letter from State Auditor Lydia E. York
Dear Fellow Delawareans,
Much of the work we do in the Office of Auditor of Accounts (AOA) is critical, but routine fiscal oversight. These audits help ensure effective stewardship of taxpayer dollars but may sometimes obscure the true importance of what those dollars fund. Occasionally, however, our office has the opportunity to create reports that illustrate how essential State Agencies, programs, and funds are for Delawareans, especially the most vulnerable among us.
In 2024, AOA received outreach from concerned Delawareans about how our State government deals with youths in the care of Division of Family Services (DFS) under the Department of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families (DSCYF). Our subsequent engagement and this resulting special report demonstrate an important way that taxpayer funds make an outsized impact on vulnerable populations. The children who come into contact with this system rely on our State to get this right. Both fiscally, and more importantly on a human level, we cannot afford not to.
Every year, youths in Delaware come into State custody, sometimes after interactions with our justice system, and often through situations they cannot control. They may face unstable or untenable situations at home, deal with chronic mental illness, or face a variety of other factors that leave them at the mercy of the State. A small, but significant group of these youths under the care of DFS cannot be placed in a foster home or facility. Instead, they are sometimes sent out-of-State, costing taxpayers more than $3.5 million in FY 2025. In other cases, these youths sleep in temporary but potentially unsuitable accommodations in State offices, while State employees volunteer for overtime shifts to care for them, adding an additional cost burden.
These youths often have no one to advocate for them besides tireless workers in the DSCYF, Department of Justice, and other State offices. These social workers, therapists, administrators, attorneys, and others dedicate an outsized amount of their time to ensuring youths are cared for, especially when they are unable to secure placement in a foster family or in-State facility. I commend DSCYF staff and leadership for their cooperation with our office for this report. I also recognize their strong efforts to rectify issues identified in this report, and to continue working towards a stronger system that addresses the needs of youths in DFS care. However, DSCYF continues to work with limited resources to commit to this problem, even as they make progress. I believe this report raises important questions that lawmakers, State leaders, and advocates should take into consideration.
Our State spends millions of dollars every year to serve this small population of youths, but lawmakers have more work to do to build a holistic system that addresses their needs. State employees face a changing set of circumstances for each child – often depending on timeframe, facility availability, individual youth circumstances, and more. While DSCYF is working towards adding youth housing capacity, it may still be a concern that the additional beds our State has funded will be enough for all youths in DFS care at any one time, or if all of their individual needs can be addressed.
This is a population that desperately needs, and legally relies upon, our State to be ready for them before they walk through the door of a State office or courtroom. Make no mistake – this is a nationwide issue, and not one that any State has resolved entirely. However, I believe that this is an opportunity for Delaware to lead. In order to do so, we need to think bigger about this problem and potential solutions than we have before.
I hope that this report serves as the beginning of a larger conversation about how we serve youths in DFS care, and how we can prepare to serve them better. It will be a worthy investment in our State’s future, and also in the basic decency that we owe each other when we face our times of greatest need. That is what our State government is here to do.
Sincerely,
Lydia E. York
State Auditor