‘Failure after failure’: Lawmakers grill DCFS officials over death of AJ Freund

Two days after the body of a 5-year-old boy was found in a shallow grave about seven miles from his Crystal Lake home, a panel of Illinois lawmakers on Friday called on the state’s Department of Children and Family Services to account for its repeated failures to protect children who’ve come into contact with the long-troubled child welfare agency.

DCFS had repeated contacts with Andrew “AJ” Freund and his family since he was born with opiates and other drugs in his system, most recently closing an investigation in January, citing a lack of evidence of cuts, bruises and welts that were reported weeks earlier. His parents, JoAnn Cunningham, 36, and Andrew Freund, 60, have been charged with murder in connection with the boy’s death.

State Rep. Grant Wehrli, a Naperville Republican, said that the timeline DCFS assembled outlining its interactions with AJ and his family showed years of “failure after failure.”

“To even the most casual of observers who read this timeline, every bit of criticism that DCFS gets is earned,” Wehrli said. “This is a systemic failure of a system that is not working for anyone. … There are children who need your help that, after looking at this, I fear for their safety.

“What are you going to do as agency to ensure that a case even remotely close to this one doesn’t happen again?”

Authorities say Freund was beaten to death on April 15. Marc D. Smith, who took over as acting director of DCFS the same day, was grilled by lawmakers on a House appropriations committee who acknowledged that problems long predate his appointment. The legislators called into question the agency’s longstanding priority of keeping families together, and they pushed Smith and other officials to explain what steps they’re taking to prevent future deaths.

“No one wants to be in the situation where we’re hearing about another child being murdered by their parents because DCFS felt that that was the most appropriate place for them to be,” said state Rep. Anna Moeller, an Elgin Democrat who said that she, like AJ, was born with opiates in her system because her mother was a drug user.

Children should remain with their parents “when they can provide them a safe, nurturing home,” said Smith, who was previously executive vice president of foster care and intact services at Olympia Fields-based Aunt Martha’s Health & Wellness.

“We maintain that as … one of the cornerstones in the way that we deliver our service to children and families,” he said. “But we should not be in the situation where we are solely focused on one thing or the other. So, when appropriate, children should be placed with relatives who can care for them and love them; when appropriate, they should go to foster home care.”

Smith said he’s committed to making sure DCFS and the social service agencies it partners with “have the capacity to make those kinds of decisions.”

Rep. Tom Weber, a Lake Villa Republican whose district includes the area where AJ lived, focused on the last contact DCFS had with the child before he was reported missing. After initially blaming bruises on the family dog, AJ told emergency room staff, “Maybe someone hit me with a belt. Maybe mommy didn’t mean to hurt me,” according to agency records. A DCFS investigator allowed AJ to leave the hospital with his father.

“That sounds like a red flag to me,” Weber said.

“And you are correct,” said Anne Gold, DCFS associate deputy for child protection, acknowledging the agency’s “missed opportunity.”

“We should be getting a second opinion from one of our child abuse experts,” Gold said. “So that piece was missed.”

[ Parents with drug problems are often allowed to keep their kids. After AJ Freund, will that change? ]

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A handwritten note is attached to a blue ribbons in support of Andrew "AJ" Freund on a tree outside the family's boarded-up home on May 8, 2019 in Crystal Lake. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

DCFS has churned through 14 previous leaders since 2003 and has seen its budget and staffing dwindle. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who appointed Smith, has requested $75 million in additional funding for the agency for the budget year that begins July 1, a portion of which would be used to hire an additional 126 workers.

While lawmakers acknowledged that some of the agency’s problems can be attributed to inadequate staffing and funding, they said others are matters of judgment by case workers and investigators.

In response to Wehrli’s criticisms, Smith pointed to an ongoing review of the unit that is charged with working to keep families intact. Pritzker commissioned the review, which is being conducted by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, after the death of 2-year-old Ja’hir Gibbons, who was beaten to death March 18 — two days after a contract worker was supposed to check on him and his 5-year-old brother at their home in Chicago’s Washington Park neighborhood. The initial report and recommendations are expected in early May.

Agency officials also said they’re doing an internal review of allegations of abuse and neglect of children 3 and younger that were previously determined to be unfounded.

[ Column: 'I have no doubt in my mind that little boy could’ve been saved.' It's time to stop keeping families like AJ Freund's together. ]

AJ’s parents are scheduled to appear in court on Monday. Cunningham and Freund were being held separately in administrative segregation at the McHenry County Jail, officials said Friday. The segregation keeps them separated from the general population for their own safety, spokeswoman Sandra Rodgers said.

A hearing to determine the custody of AJ’s 4-year-old brother is also set for Monday. The McHenry County state’s attorney’s office will be opposing the parents’ custody of the boy, who has been placed in temporary emergency custody of DCFS. An attorney is expected to be appointed Monday to represent the boy’s best interests.

On Friday, Crystal Lake residents wore blue in response to a plea on Facebook to wear blue in support of AJ.

Authorities found the boy’s body Wednesday buried in a shallow grave in a remote area of Woodstock. The parents were charged with beating him and putting him in a cold shower for a prolonged time. The coroner determined that head trauma caused AJ’s death.

Though AJ died April 15, his parents didn’t report him missing until three days later, prosecutors said.

Records show that Cunningham was also charged with beating AJ on March 4, indicating that some abuse predated his murder by more than a month.

dpetrella@chicagotribune.com