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Kidjacked | Jacked Up
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A federal program that helps states cover the cost of placing and keeping a child in foster care grew from $300 million in 1981 to nearly $2.7 billion in 1991. Illinois CPS News Archive
The Illinois news section is your source for the latest in family rights news items,
CPS reform efforts, open court demands, abolition of confidentiality laws that judges
hide behind, foster care deaths and issues, legal cases and more... Please
Email Kidjacked
with news and information from the state of Illinois and I will include it here in our
coverage.
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Illinois News Coverage
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DCFS investigator is assaulted while trying to aid a child in Sterling, Ill.
by David Jackson, Gary Marx
Andrew Sucher allegedly struck a 59-year-old Department of Children and Family Services investigator in the head when she appeared at a child's home near Sterling on Sept. 29, 2017.
llinois child welfare officials are reacting with shock and anguish to the severe beating of a veteran investigator who was assaulted while taking protective custody of a 2-year-old child near Sterling, about 120 miles west of Chicago. The child's relative, 25-year-old Andrew Sucher, allegedly knocked the 59-year-old Department of Children and Family Services investigator to the ground and kicked her in the head when she appeared at the child's home Friday evening, according to court records and interviews with state and local authorities.
chicagotribune.com
October 4, 2017
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Former Cook County human services director charged with child abuse
by Tom Olsen
The man who was responsible for overseeing social services in Cook County is himself accused of engaging in a years-long pattern of child abuse.
Former public health and human services director Joshua David Beck, 40, was charged last month in State District Court with multiple felony and gross misdemeanor charges stemming from allegations of abuse toward two children. The children, ages 12 and 10, reported to investigators this summer that they had been subjected to years of physical and verbal abuse, including strangulation, slapping, hair-pulling and name-calling, according to a criminal complaint.
duluthnewstribune.com
September 16, 2017
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Why we're afraid to leave our children alone
by Virginia Postrel
Parents don't not leave their kids alone because they fear something might happen to them. They fear the moral disapproval. Only in the past decade or so has "no child left alone" become the social and legal norm in the U.S.
News reports and crime shows feed exaggerated fears. But Thomas and her co-authors note that legal norms needn't follow inaccurate beliefs about risks. "The fact that many people irrationally fear air travel does not result in air travel being criminalized," they write. "Parents are not arrested for bringing their children with them on airplanes. In contrast, parents are arrested and prosecuted for allowing their children to wait in cars, play in parks, or walk through their neighborhoods without an adult."
chicagotribune.com
September 18, 2016
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Home schooling is the best solution for some families
by Scott Hilyard
During the school year, Andra Benson of Morton works two jobs a day. She works second shift as an addictions counselor at Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Normal.
"She was in fifth grade when she came to me and asked to be homeschooled," Benson said recently during an interview in the Morton apartment she shares with her 14-year-old daughter, Allie. "She said she was tired of all the drama in her class, and hated how mean kids were to each other. She just wanted to learn and forget about all the other stuff."
pjstar.com
July 28, 2016
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A huge transit TIF bill passed yesterday
State lawmakers on Thursday handed Mayor Rahm Emanuel broad authority to create special taxing districts to help pay for four major rail projects, but the mayor and his administration would not detail how much money would be diverted.
The legislation, which lawmakers passed as part of a compromise on a stopgap state budget and an education funding bill, is designed to help City Hall come up with money it needs to match requirements to receive federal transportation grants and loans, Emanuel said. But the measure also grants the mayor and City Council wide discretion to create the so-called tax-increment finance districts within a one-mile-wide swath of land along 46 miles of Chicago Transit Authority rail lines throughout the city. The districts, which could remain in place for up to 35 years, would siphon off 80 percent of property tax revenue within their boundaries (with the exception of taxes for Chicago Public Schools) and dedicate the money toward four major transit projects.
capitolfax.com
July 1, 2016
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March planned along Michigan Avenue in Chicago
by Phil Palmer
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services' records show that Laquan McDonald was a ward of the state when he died, having spent years being shuttled between different relatives' homes and foster care from the time he was 3.
Demonstrators planned a mass march along Chicago's ritzy Magnificent Mile on Friday to protest widespread problems in the police department that they said were directly to blame for the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. A new round of protests on Wednesday at the Chicago's criminal courthouse and City Hall were sparsely attended, though members of the City Council's black caucus again demanded the resignation of police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.
timesoracle.com
December 3, 2015
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In another 'free range' case, Chicago mother wages 2-year fight against child neglect citation
Two years ago, Natasha Felix's three children were outside playing at a playground next to her East Ukrainian Village apartment while she was at home.
She was checking on her sons - then ages 11, 9 and 5 - by looking out the window every 10 minutes, she said. But when a passer-by saw the Felix kids, along with a 9-year-old cousin, she assumed they were unsupervised and called the state's Department of Children and Family Services hotline. What one mother views as a benign activity, the state's child protective agency sees much differently.
wcfcourier.com
October 16, 2015
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Seminar on vaccination choice planned in November
Illinois: "To Vaccinate or Not Vaccinate: A Cost-Benefit Analysis Seminar," will be from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov., 14 at the Historic Dixon Theatre, 114 S. Galena Ave.
Doors open at 4:30 p.m. A cost-benefit analysis of vaccines will be presented, as will information on the immune system's building blocks, adverse reactions to vaccines, mandatory vaccine laws and exemptions, and more.
saukvalley.com
October 12, 2015
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Upcoming Events Northbrook Library Homeschool Book Swap
The Northbrook Public Library will host a Homeschool Book Swap on Saturday, October 17 from 9-11 a.m. in the Youth Services Activity Room.
The Homeschool Book Swap is the first event of its kind at the Library. Jennifer Townsley, a Youth Services library assistant, wanted to create the event to help homeschoolers renew their materials while keeping costs down.
dailynorthshore.com
October 4, 2015
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Homeschooling Family Started Making Short Films for Fun Until That Playful Hobby Turned Into Something Far Bigger
by Billy Hallowell
A decade ago, Aaron and Chad Burns joined other members of their family in making short films just for the fun of it, but that hobby has now turned into something far greater, as the cousins are just days from seeing their feature film.
Both from homeschooling families, Aaron, 27, who grew up in Michigan, and Chad, 32, who was raised in Illinois, recently told TheBlaze about how their immediate families would get together for Christmas and summer break during their younger years.
theblaze.com
April 1, 2015
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US hospital kidnaps disabled teen patient for profit
by Mike Adams
Never forget that treating disease in America is a high-profit business. Health care is one of the few situations in which the for-profit business providing services to a customer doesn't need the customer to agree to the price being charged.
Instead, hospitals bill the federal government for services rendered to the patient, and the government sends the hospital a hefty check for each service rendered. The patient, meanwhile, never even knows how much was billed to the government. This is half the reason doctors and hospitals now routinely order a battery of useless blood labs and medical tests on patients. It has nothing to do with medical need and everything to do with padding the Medicare bills.
naturalnews.com
January 11, 2015
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Rep calls child agency problems 'a tragedy'
by Mark Fitton
The state Capitol is largely quiet. But some legislators say this is the exact time to think of children in the state's care.
State Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale, called reports of physical and sexual violence within the state's child welfare agency "an absolute tragedy." She said an upcoming hearing to examine the problems at the Department of Children and Family Services could mark the start of a bipartisan effort to greatly improve child protection in Illinois.
myjournalcourier.com
December 28, 2014
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Springfield child welfare organization replaces CEO
The chief executive officer of a Springfield child welfare organization has been replaced after Illinois Department of Children and Family Services officials reinstated a ban on new admissions to the facility.
On Tuesday, The Hope Institute for Children and Families announced that chief financial officer Clint Paul would replace CEO Karen Foley. According to Hope's chairman of the board, the facility "remains committed to the health, safety, and well-being of all children in its care."
wandtv.com
October 1, 2014
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Chicago School Bans Homemade Lunches
by Leah Zerbe
Your gut feeling may be that packing a homemade school lunch for your child would be healthier than a chocolate milk, white bread, sugar-laden, processed, vending machine-sourced unhealthy school lunch.
But one Chicago school disagrees, and has banned homemade school lunches, according to a Chicago Tribune report. But some healthy-school-lunch advocates believe that as long as the school is truly serving healthy, tasty food (not chemical-containing processed food with a mile-long list of ingredients), a school ban on lunches from home could actually benefit kids. "When you do this, there's no peer pressure about what to eat and what not to eat," explains author and healthy-school-lunch advocate Chef Ann Cooper, known as the Renegade Lunch Lady. "There's no trying to get one kid to eat broccoli when another kid is eating Lunchables."
rodalenews.com
August 19, 2014
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Mother Sues After Cops Kidnap and Interrogate Her 10-Year-Old Son
by John Vibes
A mother in Chicago filed a lawsuit last week stating that police falsely arrested her 10-year-old son, believing that he had a gun and information about a gang.
According to the lawsuit, Tanisha McGee and her son were on their way to pick up Chinese food on April 6 when they were approached by a large group of police officers. The officers allegedly grabbed the young boy without saying anything to the mother and began searching him for weapons and interrogating him about gang activity. The lawsuit states that the officers were unnecessarily rough with the young boy, being both physically and verbally abusive. Police did not find a gun, or any reason to suspect that the child was guilty of any crime, but they put him in the back of the police car anyway.
thefreethoughtproject.com
August 10, 2014
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Hospital Seizes Another Child Because Mom Disagreed With Doctors
by Daniel Jennings
Another American mother has lost custody of her child because of a disagreement about medical care with hospital doctors.
Missouri resident Michelle Rider's 16-year-old son Isaiah is now in a foster home near Chicago because of "medical child abuse" allegations made by hospital staff. "We simply came here just seeking specialized medical care and now my son is being held against his will in another state," Rider told Chicago TV station WGN. "He is in a stranger's home in the state of Illinois. All of his family and friends and everyone is in Kansas City."
offthegridnews.com
August 5, 2014
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Popular Child Welfare Reform Faces Questions on Child Safety | The Chronicle of Social Change
by Daniel Heimpel
The long delayed release of an evaluation of Illinois' differential response program casts new doubts on whether one of the country's most popular child welfare reforms is safe for children and a smart way to spend limited resources.
According to the report, children whose parents had benefited from twice as much social work time, $400 stipends and a philosophy that stresses family strengths were more likely to be reported for child maltreatment and become victims of substantiated abuse or neglect.
chronicleofsocialchange.org
June 24, 2014
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Farm 'goes organic' on a large scale
Farmers have earned the reputation of being the greatest optimists of all time, otherwise they wouldn’t be farming.
They're responsible for providing food, clothing and many other things that are often overlooked. Tom and Colleen Yucus of Ohio, Ill., are a prime example of the optimism it takes to be involved in production agriculture. The Yucus family believes in producing certified organic crops in order to nourish this next upcoming generation, also known as the "foodies."
newstrib.com
August 12, 2013
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79 Teens Hospitalized After Being Sprayed By Pesticides
Teens working on a field in Champaign County, Ill., were treated at a hospital after they were accidentally sprayed with fungicide from a crop-dusting plane Thursday.
The teens were working in a field detasseling corn for the Monsanto corn company when the accident happened. 79 were treated at Carle Foundation Hospital for exposure to the fungicide. All of the teens were decontaminated on site by emergency responders before three busloads were transported to the hospital for further evaluation and treatment.
rttnews.com
July 26, 2013
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Frankfort Chiropractor Announces Free Nutrition Workshop Tuesday, July 30
Frankfort chiropractor Dr. Scott Stratton will be hosting a free nutritional counseling workshop on Tuesday, July 30. The workshop will teach participants how to proactively shop for healthy whole foods that protect themselves and their families.
Dr. Stratton will debunk common myths about diet foods, sports drinks and other marketed 'healthy foods' that are actually harmful to the body's health. He will discuss new studies from researchers at Stanford and the University of Texas about the dangers of processed foods and their link to health problems. The chiropractic clinic's workshop will include tips for how to purchase healthy foods at the grocery store.
nz.finance.yahoo.com
July 22, 2013
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Spiros Law, P.C., Files Lawsuit Against Foster Parents and Foster Care Organization
James Spiros of Spiros Law, P.C., has filed a civil suit against The Baby Fold, a foster care organization based in Normal, Illinois, and foster parents Joshua and Heather Lamie in the death of 4-year-old Kianna Rudesill.
According to court documents, the suit, filed on behalf of Kianna's biological father, James Rudesill, alleges that Heather and Joshua Lamie were responsible for the death of Kianna, who suffered blunt force trauma to the head and upper body and who eventually died as a result of these injuries. The coroner's report indicated that the cause of death was consistent with homicide.
watchlistnews.com
May 12, 2013
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Termination of Parental Rights Reversed
This is a case where a decision terminating parental rights was reversed by the Appellate Court because the termination was based upon an order of default. No evidence of unfitness was introduced.
After the children were removed from the mother's custody and placed into the custody of DCFS, the state moved to terminate the parental rights of the mother and father. The father obtained counsel and contested the allegations against him. Even so, after he missed one hearing, the court entered a default judgment and terminated his parental rights.
clintonfamilylaw.net
April 25, 2013
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Four years of probation for CPS worker who stole more than $20,000
by Carlos Sadovi
A former Chicago Public Schools teaching assistant was sentenced to four years of probation after she admitted stealing more than $24,000 from a Northwest Side school to pay off credit card bills, prosecutors said.
Lopez had served as a teaching assistant and worked in other positions at Thurgood Marshall Middle School, 3900 N. Lawndale Ave., prosecutors said when she was arrested and charged in August. Lopez had worked for the school since 1994.
articles.chicagotribune.com
April 9, 2013
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Proof The Obama Administration Is Going After The Good Guys With Guns
by Frank Miniter
What got us to a time when the mainstream media thinks it's a non-story that Chicago rated dead last in federal prosecutions of gun crimes while it earned the gruesome distinction of being the murder capital of the U.S.?
Why is it that the National Rifle Association (NRA), a civil-liberties group with four-million-plus members, has to call journalists out for not reporting bloody and startling facts? Out of 90 federal jurisdictions, in 2012 Chicago ranked last for prosecuting bad guys with guns.
forbes.com
March 26, 2013
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Evaluating Universal Preschool
by Michael Lipkin
During his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama pushed for more manufacturing and infrastructure jobs. But instead of merely seeking job training programs for adults, he called for universal preschool.
Head Start is lower cost than Perry or other programs Heckman has studied, and doesn't include home visits. And while researchers are still tracking Perry students 50 years later, Heckman says there have been no long-term evaluations of Head Start. But Heckman is encouraged by proposed Head Start reforms, such as increasing teacher salaries, and the plan to match state funding for preschool programs, as long as they meet federal quality standards.
chicagotonight.wttw.com
March 20, 2013
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Alert Kidjacked to Illinois CPS news!
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Family Support Connections | Get Involved
by Annette M. Hall
You can fight CPS and win. Learn from those who have been in your shoes. Attend live support group meetings, rally's, workshops and join in online discussions. There is strength in numbers.
Kidjacked
December 3, 2020
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Jacked Up: Public Records Case Law
by Annette Hall
In a recent Illinois court case the 4th District Court of Appeals in Springfield has ruled internal affairs files are a public record regardless of the outcome of the probe.
Kidjacked
May 15, 2010
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Jacked Up: Slash the Budget!
by Annette Hall
Apparently, this concerned doctor simply doesn't realize just how poorly run the DCFS is and how all that money is cheating children our of their family, friends and home. If we really want to help children, we will prosecute abusive parents in criminal court, where the laws of evidence and procedure have a much better chance of getting to the truth.
Kidjacked
May 15, 2010
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Jacked Up: DCFS Scouting
by Annette Hall
Here's an alert to those of you in Illinois. DCFS is at it again and obviously needs to snatch more kids.
Kidjacked
May 15, 2010
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