Tagged: Illinois Department of Children and Family Services

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services says neglect and abuse killed 90 children in the state last year and almost half were infants who died in unsafe sleeping conditions.

Department spokesman Dave Clarkin said yesterday the total could rise. More than 60 death investigations are still pending from 2012. Clarkin says 40 of the children were infants who suffocated while sleeping with parents, with blankets or on their stomachs. All of those practices are dangerous.

The Illinois Dept. of Children and Family Services says family members are failing to report cases of sexual abuse. That assertion came Thursday in a report that says child sex abuse cases are up in Downstate Illinois.

DCFS says more than half of the people reported for child sex abuse were related to the victim. But the vast majority of those reports came not from family members, but professionals who are required by law to report abuse.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services began sending out layoff notices Friday as it tries to cut 375 jobs without weakening its ability to protect children.

The department has to absorb an $86 million budget cut.

Director Richard Calica said in a letter to staff that the agency must focus its remaining resources on core responsibilities required by law.

The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reports the agency will have to reduce programs aimed at preventing abuse and neglect.