Leaving an 8th grader ‘Home Alone’ could land parents in jail

By Joe Barnas

12/23/2020

A vague and restrictive state law could mean the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services comes knocking if parents leave their 13-year-old home alone.

TAGS: DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services, home alone, negligence, regulations

Absent pension crisis, Illinois could afford ‘free’ college

By Adam Schuster

12/10/2019

Illinois could give every undergraduate in public college nearly $70k a year if it spent the same 4% of its budget on pensions as it did throughout the 90s, rather than the 25% it spends today.

TAGS: DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services, general revenue fund, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, illinois state police, Springfield, tax burden

Parents could get more say about leaving preteens home alone after Illinois House passes bill

04/08/2019

Illinois parents can face neglect charges for leaving a 13-year-old home alone. The Illinois House just took a step toward relaxing the nation’s strictest law on unattended children.

TAGS: DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services, home alone, Joe Sosnowski, Jonathan Carroll, Terri Bryant

Home alone: Unattended 13-year-old? Police can arrest the parents in Illinois

By Jeffrey Schwab

12/19/2018

Illinois’ law mandating a minimum age for leaving children home alone is the most restrictive in the nation. That should change.

TAGS: criminal justice reform, DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services, overcriminalization

State agency investigates Illinois mom for letting 8-year-old walk dog around block

By Jeffrey Schwab

08/23/2018

A Wilmette mother investigated for letting her daughter walk the dog is only the latest target of Illinois’ vague and overreaching child neglect laws.

TAGS: DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services, overcriminalization

Settlement deal helps prevent parents’ nightmares from coming true

By Austin Berg

07/26/2018

Vague, arbitrary and overly protective rules, like we see often in Illinois, don’t do anyone any favors.

TAGS: DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services, nanny state

Leave your 13-year-old home alone? Police can take her into custody under Illinois law

By Jeffrey Schwab

05/20/2018

Illinois’ law mandating a minimum age for leaving children home alone is the strictest of its kind in the nation.

TAGS: DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services, home alone, regulations

Leave your 13-year-old home alone? Police can take him into custody under Illinois law

By Jeffrey Schwab

12/22/2016

Common sense tells us most 13-year olds are perfectly capable of staying home alone after school while their parent is at work, but in Illinois, common sense isn’t the law.

TAGS: criminal justice reform, DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services

“Home Alone”: How one extreme Illinois case led to overbroad laws about child supervision

By Jeffrey Schwab

12/23/2015

Illinois’ real-life “Home Alone” story inspired legislation that gives the state too much power to intrude into parents’ reasonable decisions about their children.

TAGS: DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services

State drops child-neglect citation for mother who let her kids play outside

By Jeffrey Schwab

12/21/2015

An inadequate-supervision case recently dropped by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services reveals why the department must reform its policies regarding what constitutes child neglect.

TAGS: DCFS: Department of Children and Family Services