Editorial: A chance for DCFS to better protect children — if taxpayer dollars are spent wisely

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law a $40 billion state budget this week that includes a hefty increase for the Department of Children and Family Services — resources that should be directed toward child welfare protection, not lost in a bureaucratic abyss.

The budget that begins July 1 includes a nearly 11% hike for DCFS, bringing the agency’s total one-year appropriation to more than $1.3 billion. The increase was prompted in part by several heartbreaking child deaths, including that of 5-year-old Andrew “AJ” Freund of Crystal Lake, whose parents are charged in his murder. The courts, DCFS employees and lawmakers consistently have cited too-high caseloads as a chronic problem that puts little lives at risk, including AJ’s.

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