Child Abuse

Since May, 667 people have joined lawsuits alleging sexual abuse in juvenile detention centers across the state, according to attorneys.

Child deaths involving the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services increased by 40 percent in the last fiscal year.

McLean County's new state's attorney says she hopes the job will give her a better platform to address child welfare issues. Erika Reynolds has been critical of the how Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has handled abuse allegations.

Each state creates its own definitions of abuse and neglect and sets a threshold for when a child should be removed from a home. Is it time to rethink Illinois' definitions?

Child welfare experts acknowledge that meaningful reform often follows the chaos of dysfunction and years of litigation. Here's how other states and cities have done it.

In Rica Rountree's case, mandated reporters alerted the state’s child welfare agency of potential serious abuse. They sounded the alarm bell repeatedly, only to have those alarms ignored or not thoroughly investigated by the agency tasked with doing so. Instead, the investigator who mishandled Rica’s case was promoted.

McLean County is putting out a call for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) to help children navigate the foster care system.

Former piano teacher Aaron Parlier has been sentenced to 450 years in prison for sex assault and child porn. The lengthy term comes from convictions in the first of six cases prosecutors have said they plan to try separately against the 40-year-old Bloomington man.

A child protection advocate in McLean County says child abuse and neglect didn't go away during the pandemic, even if her caseload dropped.

Child welfare officials in Illinois reported a 17 percent decline in the number of child death cases they investigated during the previous fiscal year —…