The following is a true story as reported by the January 2014 Sun-Times article “DCFS-involved abuse and neglect deaths: 61 children, 61 stories”. An Eight-month-old infant became unresponsive while being cared for by his father. The father called 911 and the infant was pronounced dead in a hospital that evening. In the hospital the infant was discovered to have a skull fracture and healing rib fracture. His three surviving siblings were medically assessed. The infant’s twin brother was found to have head injuries and a 1-1/2-year-old brother was found to have a healing rib fracture. The third child, a 2-1/2-year-old sister, did not have any injuries. At autopsy the infant was found to have multiple injuries likely caused from being punched in the stomach. The father was charged with murder and hung himself while awaiting trial. This child is just 1 of 61 who died of abuse or neglect in the 2013 fiscal year after the family had previous contact with the Illinois DCFS less than a year before. This story is just one example of how Child Abuse is a disturbingly prevalent problem no matter how much we like to pretend it is not and stories like this are all too common. Children are neglected, beaten, sexually assaulted, and in some cases are even killed. Here in Illinois we have the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) which is specifically meant to help children in these frightening circumstances. However, legislators are failing the DCFS by constantly imposing budget cuts that restrict the agency’s ability to help the children, and the DCFS itself is failing the children directly through its internal failures. Therefore, I am calling on Illinois legislators to re-evaluate the state budget so that the DCFS, a deserving program, can receive the funding that is currently being used in other less deserving areas. I would also like them to take a good look at exactly what is happening within the agency itself.

The DCFS does good work, but like everything else, the work they do and the effectiveness of it depends on funding. Unfortunately, funding is becoming more and more scarce year after year. As seen in the 2012 Chicago Tribune article DCFS cuts may force more kids into foster care, “The agency's latest challenge is a $50 million budget cut that state lawmakers approved in May, which requires DCFS to lay off 375 workers, about 12 percent of its workforce.” This has obvious ramifications for the entire department but perhaps the hardest hit aspect of the department is the program known as intact family services, which works to keep families together with little expense for the state, instead of being put into foster homes, which the state is responsible for. As Richard Calica, the director of DCFS at that time put it, "The number of children going into [foster care] is going to go up, and guess who's going to pay for that? The state...It won't be DCFS management who did that. It will be the Legislature's fault...They cut our budget so the successes we've had over the last 15 years are going down the toilet." Therefore, legislators have to devote more funds to the DCFS in order for them to do their work effectively. If not, the DCFS has little ability to help these children and they will be stuck in the same frightening circumstances, perhaps until they are beyond help.

Unfortunately, all of the failures can’t be blamed entirely on the budget. The agency has had its own fair share of scandals. As seen through the December 2014 Chicago Tribune article “Harsh Treatment: How Illinois fails its most vulnerable citizens”, “From 2011 to 2013, the facilities reported 428 cases of sexual assault or abuse, 1,052 physical assaults and 29,425 runaways”. The system is failing these kids because even after they are removed from dangerous homes their situations don’t improve much. In addition to this, “On any given day, about 1,400 wards are assigned to one of 50 residential treatment centers throughout the state”. Even when problems like those mentioned above are reported, not much can be done because there’s nowhere else that they can feasibly go. Unfortunately, these are not isolated incidents. If we dig deeper we see a trend of failing to report missing children and a disturbing number of preventable deaths on their watch. If these things continue to happen, it will be as if there is no DCFS, and without the DCFS we are sentencing the children to whatever fate awaits them in an abusive home.

Please join me in my efforts to get legislators to provide more funding for DCFS and fix the internal problems in the agency. While we wait for legislators to implement these changes, please watch this video, made in 2008 by Heather Cline as part of the “Don’t Look Away” campaign for Child Abuse Awareness Month. I am warning you that this is a disturbingly graphic video and is very hard to look at, but I am showing it to you so you can see the harsh reality behind the issue and hopefully be inspired to do whatever is necessary to stop it. Until the changes I propose are implemented, we need to take whatever steps we can to stop these horrible things from happening. Unfortunately, there is a chance that our efforts may not amount to much, but we at least have to try. By signing this petition, you can take the first step needed to better these children’s lives and show them that there is someone who cares.