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Embattled DCFS To Retrain Agency Employees

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Andrew "AJ" Freund /Crystal Lake Police

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The acting director of the embattled Illinois Department of Children and Family Services says the agency's staff will be re-trained.

The plan comes after the death of AJ Freund, the 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy who prosecutors say was killed by his parents. The family had been monitored by DCFS.


"We are re-training. We're conducting a re-training protocol for all of our frontline staff," DCFS Acting Director Marc Smith told WBBM Newsradio's Steve Miller.

A University of Chicago research and policy institution, Chapin Hall, is just out with several recommendations for improving DCFS.

One recommendation is that DCFS adopt the procedures of some other child welfare systems.

Director Smith said the agency is about halfway toward hiring the 126 caseworkers it's been budgeted for.