* Press release…
Today, State Representative Patrick Sheehan (R-Homer Glen) joined fellow Representatives Jeff Keicher, Bradley Fritts, and Charlie Meier at a press conference to address the urgent need for reform within the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The press conference (held during Child Abuse Awareness Month) brought attention to the critical shortcomings of the system and the devastating impact these failures have had on children’s lives.
Rep. Sheehan spoke with conviction about the importance of safeguarding children and the need for DCFS to fulfill its mission. He highlighted alarming statistics showing that since July 2018, DCFS has failed to produce incident-specific reports for over 1,200 child deaths and more than 3,000 serious injuries under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.
“The frontline workers at DCFS are dedicated and work tirelessly, but they’re overburdened and lack the resources they need to protect the children in their care,” Rep. Sheehan said. “This is not their failure; it’s a failure of leadership and outdated practices.”
Rep. Sheehan shared details about House Bill 3262, legislation proposed to require audio or video recordings during interviews with abused or neglected children. The goal of the bill is to ensure accuracy, accountability, and the protection of crucial information in abuse investigations.
“In 2025, there’s no excuse for relying on outdated methods that can leave critical details lost or overlooked,” Rep. Sheehan explained. “This bill would help ease the burden on DCFS workers while prioritizing the safety of the children who need us most. Protecting our children is a moral imperative. HB3262 is just the start, and I’m committed to fighting for every child to ensure their safety and well-being under state care.”
Rep. Sheehan joined his colleagues in calling for swift and meaningful reforms to prevent future tragedies and restore faith in DCFS’ ability to serve Illinois’ most vulnerable children.
* From DCFS…
DCFS thoroughly investigates every eligible instance of a child death or serious injury and the department meets and exceeds its duty to report on tragic cases both through rigorous reviews and publications managed by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and through the work of its Child Death Review Teams (CDRTs). These independent entities analyze child deaths and serious injuries, ensuring accountability and systemic improvements while respecting the confidentiality required in some child welfare cases. In addition, the OIG’s Annual Reports—including child death reviews—are reported to the General Assembly annually and posted publicly on the Department’s website.
Nothing is more important that ensuring the safety of our youth which is why DCFS has prioritized hiring – reaching a record 3,878 staff members as of today. DCFS has also helped more youth find permanent homes in 2024 than in any year in the last decade. Under the leadership of Director Mueller, DCFS will continue to prioritize communication, collaboration, and a renewed focus on the youth and families we serve, while also improving practices.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked about this yesterday. His response…
There are no underreported deaths. Okay? This is, we have an annual report that comes out. It is done by the independent, the IG right, every year, and you can read about all of those situations. I read that entire report, and DCFS and I react to that every single year by making changes and adjusting to make sure that we’re keeping people safe. And indeed, that is working. So I feel confident that the allegation that was made by a reporter who doesn’t understand the way the system of reporting works in the state of Illinois is just, it was a false road that he went down. I think he couldn’t stop himself. By the time he had written half of it and started learning that he was wrong, didn’t want to pull back on the report.
- Homebody - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 10:39 am:
Former DCFS employee here. The best way to help families in DCFS care is to address the underlying issues around poverty, mental health, substance abuse, and domestic violence. That covers 99% of the cases right there.
I’ll certainly never claim DCFS is perfect or can’t be improved, but the first goal should be preventing families from needing DCFS intervention in the first place, to reduce the strain on the agency.
In my experience, every time a lawmaker grandstands about DCFS, they come with no practical ideas or proposed solutions that have any sort of evidence-based rationale as to how they would improve things.
- Andrea Durbin - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 10:42 am:
@Homebody you are 100% correct. DCFS is like an emergency room. To prevent problems, we have to look further upstream. Why wait for children to be harmed and families to suffer?
- Anyone Remember - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 10:42 am:
===In my experience, every time a lawmaker grandstands about DCFS, they come with no practical ideas or proposed solutions that have any sort of evidence-based rationale as to how they would improve things.===
Not just DCFS …
- Bob - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 11:19 am:
GOP needs to be worrying about the market. Just trying to stop us from taking care of our people while they inflict misery on everyone they can.
- John Nash - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 11:26 am:
=== There are no underreported deaths. Okay? This is, we have an annual report that comes out. It is done by the independent, the IG right, every year, and you can read about all of those situations. ===
I am no mathematician, but I went to the IG Website, totalled up the full investigations they conducted which is presented on page 7 of each report:
https://dcfs.illinois.gov/about-us/com-communications-inspector/oig-annual-reports.html
And I came up with 114 deaths investigated, not 3000.
=== by a reporter who doesn’t understand the way the system of reporting works in the state of Illinois is just, it was a false road that he went down. I think he couldn’t stop himself. By the time he had written half of it and started learning that he was wrong, didn’t want to pull back on the report. ===
Again, the math is the math. I have seen flaks attack reporters before, and I have seen governor’s attack reporting before, but I have never seen this governor personally attack a reporter before.
@AndreaDurbin - I think we can and should be doing both. The goal is to keep kids from coming into DCFS care - or the coroner’s office - in the first place. That’s why the death reports are supposed to review every child death and serious injury in Illinois, not just kids in DCFS care.
- Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 12:07 pm:
- And I came up with 114 deaths investigated, not 3000. -
Where are you getting this 3000 number? Also there were more than 161 deaths investigated in the latest report alone, not all of them were deemed eligible for a full investigation.
I have no special insight into what is or isn’t eligible for an incident specific report, but if these legislators have evidence of cases that should have been eligible but weren’t they ought to produce that instead of just spouting off numbers they don’t seem to understand.
- John Nash - Wednesday, Apr 9, 25 @ 1:03 pm:
=== there were more than 161 deaths investigated in the latest report alone, not all of them were deemed eligible for a full investigation. ===
The Death Report statute requires a publicly-available, full investigative report of every child death. So, those record reviews do not count for anything.
If you do not know where the 3000 comes from, read the original reporting. But the requirement of full investigative reports includes cases of serious injury, and that includes children that were sexually assaulted while in DCFS care or disfigured or disabled.
So no, DCFS is not doing what the law requires, not even close.
You are conflating the IG Report, Child Death Team Review, and DCFS Death reports, and they are three different things with three different scopes, and three different purposes.
The death reports provide public transparency. They tell you what county the case occurred in, for starters.