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Featured Articles

1. Article number 1 - Children in Need of a Forever Family
2. Article number 2 - Reporting Abuse or Neglect
3. Article number 3 - Stopping Child Abuse in Your Community
4. Article number 4 - Keep kids safe when they are in or near water!

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  Children in Need of a Forever Family

  ​​Every child deserves to grow up safe, secure and loved. Children from all across the state of all ages, backgrounds and abilities are taken into temporary care when it is not safe for them to remain at home. Many are in need of a loving home not only for themselves, but also a little brother or sister. Most children waiting to be adopted are living temporarily with loving relatives or licensed foster families. Some live in larger, professionally-staffed group settings.
  
  DCFS maintains an online listing with pictures and descriptions of children in need of a loving family. Please click here or call 312-328-2778 to learn how you can change the life of a child – and your own!
  

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  Reporting Abuse or Neglect

  DCFS has the primary responsibility of protecting children through the investigation of suspected abuse or neglect by parents and other caregivers in a position of trust or authority over the child.
  
  Call the 24-hour Child Abuse Hotline at 800-25-ABUSE (800-252-2873 or TTY 1-800-358-5117) if you suspect that a child has been harmed or is at risk of being harmed by abuse or neglect. If you believe a child is in immediate danger of harm, call 911 first. Your confidential call will not only make sure the child is safe, but also help provide the child’s family the services they need to provide a safe, loving and nurturing home.
  

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  Stopping Child Abuse in Your Community

  ​Children are the embodiment of innocence and hope for the future. We all agree that every child deserves to grow up in a nurturing environment where they are loved, cared for, secure, and protected from verbal, sexual, emotional and physical abuse, exploitation, and neglect. Both child abuse and child neglect cause serious harm to child development and have lifelong effects that reduce well-being and productivity and create greater demands on society.

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  Keep kids safe when they are in or near water!

  ​Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children ages one to four.
  Young children drown quickly and silently in as little as one inch of water. For every child who drowns, five more need emergency medical care for injuries that can result in life changing brain damage. The good news is that drowning tragedies can be prevented by constantly supervising children at all times when they are near water.

  To read Governor Rauner’s proclamation, click here.

  To view the video PSA and listen to the audio PSA, click here.

  For water safety tips, including a coloring book you can share with your kids, click here.