A man accused in McHenry County of abducting his own child after a visit with DCFS pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice Monday in a case that spurred a statewide missing-child alert.

The caseworker assigned to monitor an Illinois foster child who died in May 2024 had a troubling past, including an arrest for a violent crime and orders of protection filed against her by eight women for alleged threats, harassment and abuse, court documents show.

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has refused to release a timeline or reports detailing their actions in the case, despite a law that requires DCFS to make findings and recommendations available when a child dies or is seriously injured in its care

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office will partner with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to place a deputy in the Woodstock DCFS office for three years.

Let It Be Us, the largest nonprofit in Illinois providing collaborative, innovative solutions for effective recruitment and placement of children in Illinois foster and adoptive care, has been awarded a $750,000 three-year contract by DCFS.

After helping inspire the Child Abuse Notice Act, Colleen Murphy, of Yorkville, has been consulting for months with the Illinois Dep. Of Children Services, designing children-appropriate posters for placement in businesses and places frequented by kids.

Ballooning costs, dwindling coverage pose threat to Illinois foster children, advocates say

Advocates urge child welfare agency to ensure full compliance with existing law

The recently-formed Georgie's Closet seeks to provide foster children and their foster families with the items they most need when the call comes. After rapid growth thanks to community support, the group is now seeking a public location to host the resource.

Foster care officials will have to prioritize placing children with their relatives under a new law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday.

In the days following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Illinois attorney Marleen Suarez has received a flood of clients asking her to prepare paperwork to turn their children to friends, family, or even strangers, if they are deported.

Illinois lawmakers kicked off their spring legislative session roughly three weeks ago, but lawmakers in the House have already filed more than 1,800 bills that could be acted on before the General Assembly adjourns in May.

Sixty percent of rural Americans live in child care deserts — regions with too few licensed slots for children. In rural Illinois, that number rises to nearly 70%.

Though the governor promised to make Illinois “the best state” to raise young children, child care continues to disappear. And, as one couple learned, there’s almost no help for those building a child care facility from the ground up.

A bill soon heading to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk would direct foster care officials in Illinois to prioritize placing children with relatives

Illinois lawmakers could soon make it easier for children in foster care to live with their relatives or other people close to them

Alexa Balen, of Homer Glen, who faces felony charges in connection with her 2-year-old daughter's death, was denied pretrial release in a Will County court on Friday.

The pre-trial detention hearing for Alexa Balen, the Homer Glen woman accused of child endangerment after the death of her 2-year-old daughter, has been postponed to give Balen more time to find an attorney.

Edward Weiher, who has been charged with child endangerment in the death of his 2-year-old toddler, faced prior allegations of child neglect during his divorce from his ex-wife in 2023.

A Homer Glen father and mother are facing a felony charge of endangering the life and health of a 2-year-old child who died after becoming “unresponsive” in a filthy residence containing garbage and evidence of drug use, police said.

Illinois DCFS will be at Community Day, which is held Saturday by the National Hook-Up of Black Women Joliet chapter.

A woman claims in a lawsuit that Joliet Public Schools District 86 officials failed to protect her son from bullying and racial harassment while he was attending M.J. Cunningham Elementary School.

A 2-year-old child in Joliet who was fatally stabbed by his 6-year-old brother earlier this month is remembered by his family as a “sweet soul” and a “fighter” who “brought joy to all those around him.”

Carlos Acosta, the DCFS caseworker convicted in the mishandling of the AJ Freund case months before the Crystal Lake boy was killed by his mother, completed his jail term this week.

A child who was hit by a car while riding an electric mini-motorbike near Johnsburg remains in critical condition and an investigation continues.

An Illinois lawmaker from Glen Ellyn who heads a child welfare committee said the state must strengthen its laws and policies to protect homeschooled children facing inadequate education, abuse and neglect.

Sarah Safranek, 37, the mother of Nathaniel Burton, is accused of killing him in the family’s Oregon home in February 2021. She is charged with five counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery.

The new Department of Early Childhood, which will become operational in July 2026, will take over programs currently housed across three state agencies, including funding for preschool programs, child care centers and the licensing of day care centers

As expected, a June 13 column on the sentencing of a former Department of Children and Family Services investigator drew spirited feedback.

DCFS employees gathered in the courtroom in McHenry County where former caseworker Carlos Acosta was jailed for child endangerment tied to the death of Crystal Lake boy AJ Freund.

At 9 years old, L.J. started missing school. His parents said they would homeschool him. It took two years — during which he was beaten and denied food — for anyone to notice he wasn’t learning.

The former Illinois Department of Children and Family Services caseworker convicted in the mishandling of the AJ Freund case could face prison time when he is sentenced Thursday.

Another person has been charged in connection to the alleged abduction of a 5-year-old child in Woodstock that prompted a statewide search last week.

State Rep. Jed Davis responds positively to the implementation of the Startup Fund Program by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

A 12-year-old girl in Joliet died after ingesting suspected heroin and fentanyl and her mother faces drug charges, according to Joliet police.

Gov. JB Pritzker’s plan to create a new state agency to oversee Illinois’ various early childhood programs moved forward on Friday after the state Senate’s unanimous approval. It was one of 244 bills that cleared the Senate this week.

The Holistic Mental Health Care for Youth in Care Task Force will meet quarterly and submit reports to the governor and General Assembly.

Gov. JB Pritzker’s plan to consolidate the state’s early childhood programs into one new cabinet-level agency ran into tough questions this week during a House budget committee hearing.

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is holding hiring events around the state as part of Gov. JB Pritzker’s proposed headcount increase at the agency. Under the plan, the agency would grow from 3,450 employees to 4,000. The headcount in 2017 was 2,481.

Two people have been arrested on drug charges and endangering the life of a child following an incident at a Joliet hotel on Tuesday night, according to Joliet police.

A Joliet woman pleaded guilty to the 2017 killing of her own infant daughter at the Bel-Air Motel in Joliet.

A 31-year-old registered sex offender from rural Rock Falls is in Whiteside County jail, accused of beating a 6-year-old boy.

A bill in the Illinois General Assembly would ban five food additives in the state by 2027.

DCFS was contacted by Joliet police over an incident where a mother allegedly left her two sons in a vehicle unattended during the freezing weather while shopping at Target, police said. The vehicle also contained a loaded gun.

Less than two weeks after Jessica Logan’s 19-month-old died, police and a DCFS investigator came to her Decatur home and gave her a “toddler size mannequin” before telling her to reenact finding the lifeless body of her son in his bed.

Gov. JB Pritzker announced Wednesday that Department of Juvenile Justice Director Heidi Mueller will take over the embattled Department of Children and Family Services starting Feb. 1.

Sarah Safranek, 36, is charged with five counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery in the suffocation death of her 7-year-old son, Nathaniel Burton, in February 2021.

Will County prosecutors filed a petition to deny the release of a Joliet man jailed on a charge of predatory sexual assault of a child.

Vowing to make Illinois the top state in the nation for child care accessibility, Gov. JB Pritzker unveiled a plan Tuesday to consolidate all the state’s early childhood programs and funding into one new state agency.

Two sessions will take place in Sterling, one on Oct. 23, the other on Oct. 26.