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State's Attorney Urges Action In Response to
Growing Child Abuse and Neglect Cases

Amid a deepening recession and a rise in child abuse and neglect cases, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez and other county law enforcement officials are urging state lawmakers to expand programming aimed at preventing child abuse. 

 Recent reports from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services show a 5 percent statewide increase in abuse and neglect cases and a 9 percent increase in the six-county Chicago Metropolitan Area, according to Alvarez and the anti-crime organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids.  Even more disturbing, according to Alvarez, 85 children died in Illinois as a result of abuse in 2008, an increase of 29 percent over the previous year. 

 “Intervening after children are abused or neglected is too little, too late,” Alvarez said.  “We must focus on prevention to protect kids who are risk of being abused or neglected.”