News & Commentary

Recently, the Children & Family Research Center released the 2017 Illinois Child Well-Being Study, which takes a look at the current health of children and youths in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). This important snapshot of the well-being of children in the state’s care is the direct result of the ACLU’s advocacy in B.H., and the court-appointed experts’ recommendation to restore funding for the survey, which sampled 700 children and interviewed caseworkers, caregivers, and the children themselves. We have been anxiously awaiting this report as t

Mother’s Day is a time for us all to celebrate parents and caregivers – and that should include offering new mothers, pregnant persons, and breastfeeding parents the support and accommodations they need at work, at school, or elsewhere in their lives.

This op-ed originally appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Testimony of Carolyn Wald, Staff Attorney, LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project, ACLU of Illinois, Before the Cook County Board of Commissioners

In response to a recent Chicago Tribune editorial “Gov. Pritzker, DCFS' revolving door puts kids at risk," ACLU of Illinois Legal Director Ben Wolf wrote the below letter to the editor (published here):

Our client Sarah Spriesch – a paramedic with the Chicago Fire Department (CFD) - was featured in a new report from the Center for WorkLife Law detailing discrimination against breastfeeding workers across the country. Sarah’s harrowing experience with pregnancy discrimination and her bravery in stepping forward led to a settlement and new policies governing how CFD treats pregnant employees and mothers who need to express breastmilk at work.

Across the country, survivors of domestic violence can face eviction as a result of laws in their local communities that punish them for crimes committed against them and/or for needing police assistance. The ACLU’s National Office recently settled a lawsuit against a town in Missouri on behalf of one of these survivors who was kicked out of her home – and banished from her city for six months – because she called the police to get protection against an abusive ex-boyfriend. 

For years, law enforcement agencies have extracted millions of dollars in cash, vehicles, and other property from Illinois residents through the little-understood practice of civil asset forfeiture. Civil asset forfeiture laws allow the government to permanently take property away from someone on the basis that the property is associated with a crime—even though the person may never have been convicted or even arrested for any offense.