2 Downstate Illinois Children Dead Despite Prior DCFS Involvement With Families, Raising New Questions About Agency
CHICAGO (CBS) -- They were supposed to be protected by the Department of Children and Family Services, but instead, two children from downstate Illinois have died in the last month.
As CBS 2's Chris Tye reported Tuesday, it is all raising new questions about the department's ability to protect Illinois' most vulnerable.
In both cases, the state was flagged that the children - one from Bloomington and one from Lincoln near Springfield - were victims of possible abuse. They both became families visited by DCFS.
In both cases, the children are gone - and one parent is behind bars. Child advocates say the list of kids dying on DCFS radar is getting alarmingly long.
"A growing list of children that includes Damari Perry, AJ Freund, Semaj Crosby, Ta'Naja Barnes, Rica Rountree, Kerri Rutherford, and so many others - just in recent years - and now we have two more dead children," said Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert.
These are children who'd been on the radar of the DCFS in recent years.
Sophia Faye Davis of Lincoln, Illinois, was injured Feb. 6 and died. Her mother, Cierra Coker, is now behind bars.
Investigators say her daughter suffered "life threatening injuries" early last month and "ultimately succumbed to those injuries." Her mother is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery of a child.
DCFS had an investigation into the household under way when Sophia died.
In the last year, DCFS has had multiple visits with the Bloomington family of 7-month-old Zaraz Walker - including when nurses notified DCFS over odd behavior from her mother, Kimberlee Burton.
DCFS deemed that allegation "unfounded".
Then last month, the mother allegedly told investigators Zaraz died falling asleep between her legs - and said she buried Zaraz in a cemetery near the house.
Burton is charged with concealing a death. Her baby has never been found.
"This makes three children in about three months dead, despite prior DCFS involvement," Golbert said.
Damari Perry of North Chicago is the third.
In January, Damari was initially reported missing by his family last week and was believed to be in extreme danger. But authorities said the family's story about how he disappeared after going to a party with his sister in Skokie was not true. Damari was dead, and an investigation ultimately uncovered the boy's partially-charred body had already been discarded like trash in a snow-covered field in Gary.
Damari's mother, Jannie Perry 38; his brother, Jeremiah Perry, 20; and a juvenile sibling are all facing charges in his death.
Golbert says a massive staff shortage at DCFS is keeping cases from being properly handled.
"Guess what," he said. "If you don't have the investigators you need, you can't do good investigations - so you keep having more dead kids."
In a statement late Tuesday, DCFS said: "The safety and health of the children is our first priority…. We are committed to strengthening the family and working with them to resolve the crisis…. If there is an immediate threat, DCFS will place a child in protective custody."
