AJ Freund

DCFS chid protection specialist in AJ Freund case guilty of child endangerment, supervisor acquitted.

In a rare move, the former child welfare agency workers were charged criminally for allegedly failing to follow procedures that might have prevented the boy's slaying.

Since July 1, 2018, 123 children who had cases with the Department of Children and Family Services have died and the death of 5-year-old AJ Freund marked the only case that lead to criminal charges filed against that department’s employees, a defense attorney said.

AJ Freund's DCFS case worker made a series of missteps before the Crystal Lake boy was found dead, according to court testimony Tuesday.

A Crystal Lake police officer broke into tears Monday as she spoke of her disbelief when a child protective specialist from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services allowed AJ Freund, a bruised 5-year-old boy, to leave the police station with his mother.

The criminal trial for two former Illinois Department of Children and Family Services employees assigned to the case of a 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy killed by his parents in 2019 is set to begin Monday.

The Crystal Lake mother serving 35 years in prison for killing her 5-year-old son in April 2019 will receive evaluations completed by doctors who examined her in the months following the death.

McHenry County’s top prosecutors were recognized as “heroes” recently by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for the prosecution of the Crystal Lake parents who killed 5-year-old AJ Freund in 2019.

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services’ reports and medical records pertaining to the life of a 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy killed by his parents in 2019 could be presented during the criminal trials of the social workers in charge of his case.

The 19 police reports that Department of Children and Family Services employees did not request during an investigation into whether AJ Freund, the 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy later killed by his mother, was being abused can be admitted as evidence, a judge ruled.

Opinion: The Illinois legislature has given DCFS a combined additional $150 million in the past two state budgets to fix this mess.

An out-of-county judge will be brought into the McHenry County courthouse to preside over the cases of two case workers charged criminally in connection with the death of a 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy killed by his parents in 2019.

McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt dismissed JoAnn Cunningham’s post-conviction petition Wednesday, saying her constitutional rights were not violated. Here is a timeline of events from when AJ Freund was first reported missing through Cunningham’s plea deal.

Writing that JoAnn Cunningham’s constitutional rights were not violated, a McHenry County judge Wednesday dismissed the post-conviction petition filed by the former Crystal Lake mother serving 35 years in prison for killing her 5-year-old son.

A McHenry County child welfare advocacy group created a display of children’s shoes in the Illinois Statehouse on Thursday to bring awareness of child abuse to legislators.