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.

A Cook County judge has rejected a push to overturn a temporary ban that has prevented children in foster care from having supervised visits with their parents and siblings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A temporary ban put in place by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has kept children in foster care from having supervised visits with their parents and siblings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker will lay out his vision for the state budget. His office has already made public his plan to send more money to the Department of Children and Family Services.

Cook County’s public guardian filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against a Chicago psychiatric facility that treated children in state care, alleging troubling claims of sexual abuse and improper medication at the “hospital of horrors.’’

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has faced troubles for years. Acting Director Marc Smith talks about issues facing the state’s child welfare agency.

Police and Illinois’ child welfare agency say staff at a Chicago-area hospital didn’t alert them after determining that a bloodied woman who arrived with a gravely ill newborn had not just given birth to the baby boy, as she claimed.

Illinois’ child welfare agency is so intent on keeping children with their parents even when they have strong evidence of abuse that it has sometimes left those children in grave danger, a study released Wednesday found.

JoAnn Cunningham and Andrew Freund Sr. of Crystal Lake appeared in McHenry County court Friday, the day after a 30-page grand jury indictment was handed down in the case.

Illinois lawmakers on Tuesday took aim at the state’s Department of Children and Family Services, which has been haunted for decades by deaths wrought of abuse and neglect.

JoAnn Cunningham and Andrew Freund Sr.’s younger son was taken into Illinois Department of Children and Family Services custody following the disappearance of Andrew “AJ” Freund.