Illinois Agency Agrees to Beef up Abuse Investigations

The Illinois child-welfare agency has agreed in court to hire more people to investigate claims of abuse and neglect.

A spokesman says the Department of Children and Family Services hopes to have 100 additional investigators in place by October. Kendall Marlowe said Wednesday that means each investigator will get only nine new cases each month.

That's well under the court-imposed limit, which is generally 12 news cases a month.

The agency will reach the staffing goal by cutting administrative jobs and moving people to investigations.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois calls the agreement "an important step'' in reversing problems at the agency, which has been hit with deep budget cuts.