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DCFS Caught Shackling Minors Again, Breaking Its Own Rules

CHICAGO (CBS) --  Shackled again. For hundreds of miles.

Months after saying they wouldn't shackle foster kids, the Department of Children and Family Services is apologizing for violating their own rules.

It was a CBS 2 investigation that lead to changes in state rules and efforts to change laws. CBS 2's Chris Tye reported Tuesday on a new case that just happened Monday.

Some call it torture by the state of Illinois. Others a stain on DCFS. And now there's a call for resignations at the top.

On Monday, a 14-year-old girl in DCFS care was shackled for almost seven hours  - all 397 miles - from Moline, Illinois to Springfield, Missouri.

"This is precisely what the department promised a few months ago that they wouldn't do any longer," said Ed Yohnka of the ACLU.

Despite the rule change, the state made no changes to their transport vendor of choice. The same company that shackled Juwan Cross and 28 other Illinois foster children over the last three years shackled that 14-year-old girl Monday.

In a statement, DCFS said: "we will be terminating our contract with the transport company. No one in our care should ever be mistreated like this. "

A vendor change, a rule change, but the ACLU is calling for a change at the top of the office caring for the state's most vulnerable.

"Someone did not have the common sense. To just say no to make this stop," Yohnka said.

As of Tuesday, DCFS staffers involved in approving the transports have been suspended.

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