A McHenry County State’s Attorney criminally charged two former Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) child protection specialists with endangering the life of a child and health of a minor. Before 2019, when 5-year-old AJ Freund was found in a shallow grave, DCFS received at least 10 prior... View Article
Recently introduced House Bill 3705 amends the Illinois’ Children and Family Services Act to reinforce the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services’ (DCFS) duty to children in foster care as well as its responsibility for placing youth in permanent family homes through guardianship or adoption (as opposed to adoptive homes)... View Article
A federal lawsuit recently held child abuse pediatricians, hospitals, and the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) accountable for their actions with regard to situations involving Illinois child welfare. In his recent ruling, Judge Joe B. McDade of the United States District Court for the Central District of... View Article
DCFS licensed a three-time convicted felon as a foster parent and subsequently placed a 16-year-old sex trafficking victim into his care. DCFS placed the girl with the 24-year-old pimp, Erick Johnson, just months after he was released from federal prison after a 24-month sentence on a firearms charge. Before that,... View Article
Despite three decades of litigation by the American Civil Liberties Union, broken promises, court orders, news reports, and letters from informed officials, DCFS continually lacks placements for children in its care, forcing some foster children to be wrongfully incarcerated. The recent lawsuit seeks to represent all individuals placed in DCFS... View Article
Judge Patrick Murphey took a hardline approach to DCFS’ inability to create or find proper placements for youth in foster care by issuing countless orders throughout 2022 that held Director Marc Smith in contempt of court. The basis for the twelfth contempt of court order involved a 15-year-old girl who... View Article
Chicago, IL foster care child abuse law firms have been following the devasting news about the death of two-year-old Hunter Drew. After the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services took protective custody from Hunter’s mom, he was placed with his aunt and uncle. Despite several improvements to his health... View Article
A year and a half into the Covid-19 Pandemic, the existing problems with Illinois’ child welfare system have worsened. In April 2020, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) received only 47% of the calls it did in April 2019. This drop in calls was largely attributed to... View Article
Over a thousand children came into state custody in 2020, yet there are less than 40 emergency shelter beds available to these kids, creating a crisis-level shortage of shelter beds. Currently, children that come into the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) have four options:... View Article
A Cook County Probate Judge ordered the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to “get your act together” after DCFS left hundreds of kids in psych words and temporary shelters for months, while taxpayers continually covered the bill. This year alone the bill was about $6.2 million. Judge... View Article