Rep. Tom Weber | repweber.com
Rep. Tom Weber | repweber.com
Rep. Tom Weber (R-Lake Villa) called out the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) for the rising “deaths of children.”
During a news event on Thursday, Weber said the DCFS did nothing to help several children in the past.
“When DCFS has had multiple run-ins with the mother (of Sophia Faye Davis) and yet still determined the concerns to be unfounded and walk away from a child in need, folks we are failing them,” Weber said at the event. “Babies with broken bodies and doctors raising red flags one after another and still cases labeled unfounded. As a father and grandfather, it doesn't just break my heart, it angers me to no end. Deaths of children in state care are on the rise.”
Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Westmont) is also displeased with the Illinois DCFS’ mishandling of cases.
“It was bad enough the DCFS had to receive prior court orders in connection with many of these children who are being held in impossible situations, but a contempt citation means that court orders were ignored repeatedly, chronically,” Mazzochi said at the press conference. “That the court believes that there was no other choice to get these kids some relief, and that is not acceptable.”
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services director Marc Smith has been held in contempt of court six times. The most recent order involves the agency sending a 16-year-old girl in foster care to nearly 25 different placements, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The most recent contempt of court order is the fourth in six weeks.
The State Journal-Register reported 19-month-old Sophia Faye Davis died on Feb. 8. In her final month of life, child abuse allegations were dismissed. Cierra Coker, the girlfriend of Davis’ father, was charged with first degrees of murder and aggravated battery to a child. She is accused of beating the toddler to death.
ABC7Chicago reported in 2020, AJ Freund, a five-year-old boy, was murdered by his parents and hid in a shallow grave in Crystal Lake. The two former DCFS workers who oversaw his case were charged with endangering the child’s life. Their cases have been going through the courts.
Alerts Sign-up