The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting on children who are under investigation by the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) dying from child abuse and neglect. The article highlights the apparent inability on the part of DCFS to be able to handle the number of investigations under their purview. The ACLU of Illinois represents all children in the Illinois foster care system as part of our decades-long suit, B.H. v. McEwan. In 2012, we negotioated an agreement with DCFS to increase the number of child abuse and neglect investigators.
The overall increase in the number of abuse and neglect deaths — regardless of whether DCFS was involved — is “troubling, and we need to figure it out,” says Benjamin S. Wolf, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois who monitors DCFS under a federal court order.