When it’s your job to ensure the safety of children, failure should never be an option. Yet the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the state agency charged with protecting children, had failed spectacularly time-and-time again. The abuse, torture and subsequent murder of five-year-old Andrew “AJ” Freund at the hands of his parents stunned his community, but it was DCFS’ failure to protect AJ that shook the state.
