Members of the Illinois House say Department of Children and Family Services workers need to be better protected.
A few legislators stood up during the first day of the Spring Session Wednesday evening to call for change after the stabbing death of a DCFS investigator. That includes Representative Maurice West of Rockford who says it’s taking too long to hire case workers.
“None of our DCFS workers should be doing home visits alone. One thing we can do as a body both in the House and Senate is to urge the Governor’s administration on a way to expedite the time of which people apply for a job for people to work for our great state and then get the job to start working for the communities.”
This isn’t the first time the issue has come up. In 2017, a DCFS worker in northern Illinois was brutally beaten on the job and died a few months later.
In the latest case, The Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office says 36-year-old Diedre Silas was stabbed to death during a welfare check at a home in a small town of Thayer south of Springfield. A man who lived at the home, 32-year-old Benjamin Reed, has been charged with first degree murder and aggravated battery.
Authorities found Reed at a Decatur hospital where he was being treated for a minor injury. He is being held in the Sangamon County Jail on a $5-million bond.
