DeKalb Times

April is the month to bring awareness to ending child abuse, an effort ROAR for AJ wants to achieve.

“ROAR for AJ is a group out of Crystal Lake that brings awareness to child abuse issues and the state’s broken DCFS system,” Sen. Dave Syverson said in a Facebook post. “The group was formed on behalf of AJ Freund, who was murdered at the age of 5 by his parents three years ago this month despite repeated DCFS involvement. ROAR brought to Springfield 347 pairs of shoes to display representing the number of children that have died the last three years after involvement in DCFS.”

The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) hosted virtual events geared toward bringing awareness to the issue, ABC reported.

The Chicago Tribune reported the DCFS had multiple contacts with AJ Freund’s mother before he was born, and later, his mother and father after his birth. In October 2019, AJ Freund’s estate filed a federal lawsuit against a DCFS investigator and the supervisor who handled the final hotline complaint regarding AJ’s hip bruise and filthy home. The lawsuit, naming AJ’s siblings as his legal heirs, alleges the employees showed an “inhumane indifference to AJ’s safety” in their handling of the Dec. 18, 2018 hotline call.

DCFS has a history of mishandling cases.

On April 6, the ROAR for AJ Facebook page noted that the organization collected exactly the right number of shoes to represent the number of children lost between 2019 and 2021. 

"We collected exactly the number of shoes needed. We didn’t hit 1,122 to go back the last 10 years but we have literally the exact amount needed to use the time frame 2019 (AJ), 2020 and 2021. ROAR was created in 2019 and has been ROARing for those three years," a post on the Facebook page read.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that approximately 1 in 7 children experienced child abuse and neglect last year.

Legislators on both sides of the political aisle are seeking reform of DCFS that should go beyond allowing DCFS workers to carry mace for their protection, according to KFVS 12.