DCFS director steps down

By Jamey Dunn

Arthur Bishop, acting director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, resigned today after recent negative reports about his past.

Earlier this month, the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago public radio station WBEZ reported that Bishop pleaded guilty to stealing from clients of a social services agency where he worked in the 1990s. The story also said Bishop has a biological daughter who claims that he has not been a part of her life. “He’s supposed to be protecting the kids of the state — and you’ve got a kid out here you never done anything for,” Erica Bishop, who is 27 years old, told WBEZ in an interview that aired today. “He left me as a father, which I think that’s unfair to me and it’s unfair to my kids. ... As far as them wanting to keep giving him higher positions to look over people’s kids, I don’t agree.”

Gov. Pat Quinn tapped Bishop for the job earlier this year after the death of former DCFS Director Richard Calica. Bishop started working at DCFS in the 1990s. He most recently served as the director of the Department of Juvenile Justice before being chosen to head DCFS. Bishop had not yet gone through a Senate confirmation hearing. Quinn’s office declined to comment on the resignation. The governor reportedly chose DCFS administrator Bobbie Gregg to serve as acting director.