Earlier this week, John Bouman of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law cast an ominous warning that if the legislature moves forward with a bare bones budget, Illinois may have to defend itself against an onslaught of lawsuits. He pointed out that shuttering social services programs too quickly could violate various laws, court orders, and consent decrees written to protect vulnerable children and adults.

Just days later, we see the first signs of this phenomenon. Cook County Public Defender Robert Harris filed an emergency motion in Cook County Circuit Court yesterday to keep Gov. Pat Quinn, Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) director Erwin McEwen, and Illinois public guardian D. Jean Ortega-Piron from slashing mental health services for children held in custody of the state.

In requesting the injunction, Harris decries how Springfield politics have prolonged the budget debate with little regard for foster children or their caregivers:

They are now at the mercy of a political system responsible for them while the state care that is making decisions for them without any consideration for their individual needs or well-being.

Harris’ legal action rests on the premise that eliminating mental health care and counseling services — which are funded through the so-called System of Care (SOC), one of several programs that’s slated to be wiped out under the 50 percent budget scenario — would violate the constitutional rights of the children who are protected under Illinois’ Children and Family Services Act and Juvenile Care Act.  (SOC is already limping along after absorbing a 40 percent cut in funding this year.)

The complaint cites the opinion of doctors and providers that even a mere interruption of this ongoing counseling would lead to “irreparable damage” for the 4,000 children they serve. And Harris tells the Sun-Times that those problems would surely reverberate throughout the entire state:

“If we lose this, these kids will deteriorate to the point where they can’t go to foster homes, they can’t be adopted, they can’t go back home to their parents,” he said. “And it will cost the state more to institutionalize these children. It’s going to be more money … and these children have a right to these services to this appropriate care, including counseling services.”

The importance of these counseling services becomes clear when you read the harrowing accounts of the torture, sexual abuse, and neglect once suffered by the children named in the suit. Among the cases spelled out in court documents is one in which two toddlers were raped for years by their father before being rescued by protective services. Another involves a brain-damaged child who was taken into foster care after she jumped from a window when her mom doused her with gasoline and set her afire.

The state is legally responsible for these children’s care and Harris is simply fighting to ensure it continues. Barring further progress in Springfield, the Department of Children and Family Services’ (DCFS) budget could be lopped in half a week from now.  This amounts to more than $460 million in overall cuts, as DCFS director McEwen made clear in a June 18 letter to caregivers. And since there’s been no word to contrary, many are now bracing for the worst.

Harris will head back to court on June 29. That’s one day before the General Assembly returns to Springfield to potentially  finalize a state budget and two days before the clock runs out on the current budget year.