A 48-year-old Springfield man and former City Council candidate was charged July 24 with endangering the life or health of a child in connection with the March 16 swimming pool drowning of 7-year-old Barrett Koches. David Yankee, of the 2300 block of Winnebago Drive, was charged in a Sangamon County grand jury indictment with two […]
department of children and family services
Posted inOpinion
The state must step up
PHOTO BY ALAN SOLOMON/TNS Here’s what the Chicago Police Department told the media after Laquan McDonald was killed by a police officer 13 months ago: A drug-addled black kid lunged at a cop with a knife and was then shot in the chest. Six months later and a week after Chicago’s mayoral election, the city […]
Posted inOpinion
Fighting DCFS on how it takes children
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services still uses a rule that was struck down by the state’s highest court to take children, according to a lawsuit filed last week. Filed in Cook County Circuit Court, the class action lawsuit aims to stop DCFS from using the invalidated rule to “indicate” parents for neglect […]
Posted inOpinion
This is the village it takes
On a quiet street in Rantoul sits a small neighborhood of 15 nondescript duplex houses, part of a larger subdivision built decades ago to house the families of pilots and workers at the now-closed Chanute Air Force Base. Although it’s impossible to tell just by looking, something remarkable is happening here: adopted kids from troubled […]
Posted inOpinion
Helping parents get their kids back
Stephanie Spain, 26, a Petersburg native now residing in Pawnee, is no stranger to the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Several years ago, her two daughters were taken from her due to neglect. Spain, like all parents whose children are removed from the home, was given a plan of action, detailing a list […]
