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.

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ACLU of Illinois Associate Legal Director Ben Wolf appeared on WBEZ's program "Morning Shift" to discuss the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services' (DCFS) failure to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect, which resulted in an increase of death amongst children who had been in contact with the agency. The ACLU of Illinois has been monitoring DCFS for decades under a consent decree reached in the case of B.H. v. McEwen. You can listen to the program below. Ben's segment comes in at 27:05:

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