Department of Children and Family Services

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

Those working on the front lines of the state’s child welfare system have a new, high-tech simulation training space in Normal.

The state agency responsible for keeping Illinois’ most vulnerable children safe has failed to produce legally required public reports after examining what went wrong in hundreds of cases of child deaths and thousands of serious injuries, the Illinois Answers Project reports.

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

The state of Illinois is rolling out a new app to help parents of abused and neglected children communicate with their Department of Children and Family services caseworkers and with other service providers.

Volunteers are needed to support children experiencing abuse and neglect, or who are part of the foster care system.

A McLean County program that supports abused and neglected children is expanding to Logan County.

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

The head of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said the agency has made big gains in reducing chronic staff shortages this year.

McLean County’s new Family Treatment Court accepted its first client and received a $750,000 grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to fund operations.