40 Illinois children have died in the past year from accidental suffocation while they slept… as a result of parental neglect.
It was the leading cause of death for children in the state last year, followed by intentional homicide from abuse, according to the State Department of Children and Family Services. DCFS says the rate of child deaths related to abuse and neglect were the same in Chicago, the suburbs and downstate.
The agency is asking the legislature to restore 38-million dollars cut from its budget, money it says it needs to conduct effective investigations of abuse and neglect.
