Department of Children and Family Services

Two childcare providers described an industry where good intentions run into real financial and bureaucratic walls. At least for now, some left standing in McLean County seem more interested in propping each other up than fighting over what's left.

A circuit court judge in Sangamon County threatened Tuesday to begin assessing daily fines against the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for its repeated failure to appear in court or comply with orders to hand over documents related to the death of a teenager who was in the agency's care.

According to one study, Illinois is losing $6.2 billion a year from people exiting the workforce due to childcare challenges. Experts say a new statewide department dedicated to early childhood is unlikely to provide immediate relief.

Illinois lawmakers unanimously passed a bill during the spring legislative session that gives more transparency and tools to parents to defend themselves in child abuse cases.

Two months after it was first requested, the Illinois Department of Children Family Services released a timeline of involvement with a Fairview Heights foster child who died in the agency’s care.

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.