Page 5 - aruba-today-20190426

A5
U.S. NEWS Friday 26 april 2019

$ 10

Illinois child welfare system under fire after boy’s death

By DON BABWIN and JOHN child abuse investigation
O’CONNOR and placed in foster care
Associated Press but returned to the mother
CHICAGO (AP) — Disturbing last August.
details emerged Thursday In another case, an au-
of the torture authorities topsy last month found a
say preceded the beating 2-year-old Chicago boy
death of a 5-year-old Illinois had bruises and old rib
boy who had extensive fractures, but records show
contact with child welfare DCFS never reported the
workers, escalating scrutiny injuries despite making nu-
of a state agency already merous visits.
being reviewed because The research center Chap-
of the recent deaths of two in Hall at the University of
other children. Chicago is expected next
Court documents allege month to issue what Pritzker
Andrew “AJ” Freund’s par- called “actionable recom-
ents killed him by beating mendations” into how the
him and subjecting him to DCFS’s Intact Family Servic-
long, cold showers. es Unit functions.
An autopsy determined But Chapin Hall has shared
the boy died from blunt one conclusion in a press
force trauma to his head release: “With the lowest
and had been struck mul- This combination of undated photos provided by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department in foster care entry rate in the
tiple times. Woodstock, Ill., on Thursday, April 25, 2019 shows JoAnn Cunningham, left, and Andrew Freund Sr. nation, Illinois has a high
His plastic-wrapped body Associated Press threshold for child remov-
was found Wednesday in both held in jail on $5 mil- investigate allegations of in two recent cases that al.”
a shallow grave a few miles lion bail. neglect and determined prompted Gov. J.B. Pritzker Feigenholtz said lawmakers
from the family’s home in Prosecutors read charging those allegations unfound- to order an independent have to answer the ques-
Crystal Lake, about 50 miles documents that alleged ed . “There were so many review of DCFS. tion of whether the thresh-
(80 kilometers) northwest the boy was killed three calls made, so many signs In February, a Decatur old for child removal is too
of Chicago. Child welfare days before his parents of trouble and still nothing woman pleaded not guilty high or whether the workers
workers had been called reported him missing last was done.” to first-degree murder are “not aware of them or
repeatedly to the dilapi- Thursday. The details fueled She said the agency’s charges after her 2-year- are poorly trained.”
dated and filthy house that concern about how many leadership has been a re- old daughter died from “I think we all have a great
stunk of dog feces. other children could face volving door, with 13 direc- starvation and deprivation. deal of questions, but I will
Details of the gruesome the same kind of danger tors since 2003 — many of In that instance, the child tell you this that this has to
death raised the question: that “AJ” did in his short life. them interim. was taken from her moth- end,” she said. “It has to be
Why did those workers not “How many AJ’s are out Another concern stems er last year during a DCFS fixed.”q
leave with the boy? there right now that we from the tough financial sit-
“This agency, there is no don’t know about?” asked uation the state has found
direction, no mission and it Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Chi- itself in for years.
certainly has not been pro- cago Democrat, a mem- “We have huge budgetary
tecting children,” said state ber of the committee Fei- problems and this is a by-
Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, a genholtz chairs. product of not taking care
Chicago Democrat who Birth tests revealed the boy of the real issues,” said Rep.
chairs the House Adoption had opiates in his blood- Blaine Wilhour, a Beecher
and Child Welfare Commit- stream, the first of many City Republican. “These
tee. troubling signals about are the core services that
Marc D. Smith, the new di- danger to A.J. and his little are being hollowed out
rector of the Illinois Depart- brother that should have (and) the most vulnerable
ment of Children and Fam- been red flags for an agen- people are the ones that
ily Services, will appear be- cy whose job it is to protect end up getting hurt.”
fore lawmakers Friday. children, Feigenholtz said. Then there are questions
The child’s parents, 36-year- “I got the sense from what I about whether it is too dif-
old Joann Cunningham read that the cops were es- ficult for child welfare work-
and 60-year-old Andrew sentially begging (DCFS) to ers to remove children from
Freund Sr., appeared in take the child,” said Feigen- their homes, and too easy
court Thursday on first- holz, referring to the media for parents to have their
degree murder and other reports that DCFS in 2018 children returned to them.
charges. A judge ordered alone visited the house to Those questions were raised