South West Illinois News

Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Carbondale) recently drew attention to Child Abuse Prevention Month with a display at the capitol which served as a representation of children who have did despite being in contact with the Department of Children and Family Services.

“Three hundred and forty-seven shoes, one pair for each child that died in DCFS’s care since 2019,”  Jacobs posted on Facebook. “‘Roar for AJ’ who died in DCFS care was the group that brought this display to the Capitol to make sure we stop this! It requires a renewed effort to correct what is wrong with this state agency.”

Roar for AJ was named in honor of AJ Freund who at the age of 5, was beaten to death in April 2019. His parents are In prison for his murder.

The Chicago Tribune reported DCFS had multiple contacts with AJ Freund’s mother before he was born, and later, his mother and father after his birth. In October 2019, AJ Freund’s estate filed a federal lawsuit against a DCFS investigator and the supervisor who handled the final hotline complaint regarding AJ’s hip bruise and filthy home. The lawsuit, naming AJ’s siblings as his legal heirs, alleges the employees showed an “inhumane indifference to AJ’s safety” in their handling of the Dec. 18, 2018, hotline call. 

In Illinois, recent deaths of children have spurred calls for an audit of the DCFS. WANDTV reported there have been three child abuse deaths in the state in 2022 as of early April. The children include Sophia Faye Davis in Mechanicsburg, Zaraz Walker in Bloomington and Navin Jones in Peoria.

On April 6, the ROAR for AJ Facebook page noted that the organization presented the number of shoes to represent the number of children lost between 2019 and 2021. 

"We didn’t hit 1,122 to go back the last 10 years but we have literally the exact amount needed to use the time frame 2019 (AJ) 2020 and 2021," the group posted. "Roar was created in 2019 and has been ROARing for those three years, the year AJ was forsaken by our system forward."