At 9 years old, L.J. started missing school. His parents said they would homeschool him. It took two years — during which he was beaten and denied food — for anyone to notice he wasn’t learning.
DCFS
Heidi Mueller was appointed director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in February. She is the 13th director in 14 years.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and several other state agencies are holding a job fair Thursday at the UIC Jane Addams College of Social Work.
The person who advocates in court for children who’ve been abused or neglected said the state’s Department of Children and Family Services is not only failing to meet the needs of kids in its care — but that the situation is getting worse.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday announced that he’ll appoint Heidi Mueller, the current head of Illinois’ Juvenile Justice Department, to head the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) starting in February.
Lake County Judge George Strickland found Carlos Acosta, 57 of Woodstock, who was a case investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, guilty of the child endangerment charge but acquitted him of a reckless conduct charge.
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith will resign effective Dec. 31, he told colleagues in an all-staff town hall meeting Wednesday morning.
DCFS gained more than 100 employees between 2021 and 2022. Public health employees declined.
WTTW News analyzed state salary data and found some departments got smaller or had a noticeable uptick in employees leaving. Even in agencies that grew, employee churn was evident. We walk you through the numbers.
A federal lawsuit alleges that rather than housing children in appropriate settings, DCFS allowed them to remain locked in juvenile jails without access to proper educational, medical and mental health supports.
In Cook County, Black youth account for more than 70% of the child welfare system. Meanwhile, Black residents make up only 23% of the county’s total population. As of February 2022, there are more than 4,000 Black children in foster care in Cook County.
Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services has been struggling to find proper placements, particularly for high-needs youth for whom the agency is having to stand in as a pseudo parent. So much so that some children and teens who have had a stint at a psychiatric hospital are there after they’ve been cleared for release because there’s nowhere for them to go.
Illinois officials are seeking answers after the killing last week of a state child welfare worker during a home visit — the second such tragedy to occur in less than five years.
A new report says Illinois’ child welfare agency is failing to serve Spanish-speaking children and families in their language. ProPublica Illinois reporter Melissa Sanchez has details.
Two former Illinois child welfare workers who investigated abuse allegations involving AJ Freund face child endangerment charges accusing them of failing to protect him from harm, according to an indictment filed Friday.
A northern Illinois woman who subjected her young son to years of physical and emotional abuse culminating in his beating death last year was on Friday sentenced to 35 years in prison.
The hearing is expected to end on Friday with McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt sentencing 37-year-old JoAnn Cunningham. She has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the beating death of her son, Andrew “AJ” Freund.
