CHICAGO _ Illinois child welfare officials are reacting with shock and anguish to the severe beating of a veteran investigator who was assaulted while taking protective custody of a child near Sterling, about 120 miles west of Chicago.
The 2-year-old child's relative, 25-year-old Andrew Sucher, allegedly struck the 59-year-old Department of Children and Family Services investigator repeatedly in the head when she appeared at the child's home Friday evening, according to court records and interviews with state officials.
The woman suffered serious brain injuries and is in a coma, records and interviews show. She was airlifted to a hospital in Rockford, where she has undergone two surgeries. Sucher was arrested in Dixon and is being held in the Carroll County Jail on felony aggravated battery charges.
DCFS Director Beverly B.J. Walker told the Chicago Tribune she spent a tearful session with the investigator's colleagues at the Sterling field office Monday.
"They're not just weeping because their colleague is down. That is a huge part of it. But they are weeping because the work is so unpredictable, and we are living in a time when people just don't have the strengths in their homes and communities that they used to have, and that makes the work even harder," Walker told the Tribune.
Walker said she assured the agency's staff that she is trying to bolster the workforce. She said she will provide counseling and other supports for the woman's colleagues.
"One worker told me that she had a murder-suicide on her caseload just a few weeks ago. We need to be there every time when they're coming back from the front lines of this work," Walker said.
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Walker said the attack underscores the dangers of the job, in which investigators often visit homes where they are not welcome and deal with families racked by domestic violence, drug abuse and criminal activity. Investigators can face threats, harassment and even assaults as they weigh whether the state should take custody of endangered children.
"There's a lot more work out there and lot more work that's harder than it used to be," Walker said. "They are showing up in the middle of family crises, (and) by the time we get there, it's been happening a long time."
Roberta Lynch, executive director of the AFSCME Council 31 union that represents DCFS workers, called for "a thorough review of agency policies, as well as a commitment to assure staffing levels that can protect at-risk children and the employees we count on to safeguard them."
Lynch added that "this brutal attack is a horrific reminder of the dangers that DCFS employees confront every day on the job."
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DCFS got involved with the family in July after Sucher was charged in Whiteside County with felony aggravated battery of a child for allegedly beating a 6-year-old boy by dragging him by the foot and striking him in the face with a plastic squirt gun, according to records filed in Whiteside circuit court.
Sucher, who is 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds, also was charged in that incident with domestic violence for allegedly grabbing his girlfriend by the neck and throwing her against a wall, then pushing her down several times. He also took her phone so she could not immediately report the incident, according to the court records.
The girlfriend obtained a court order of protection against Sucher following the incident in July. While the details of the DCFS involvement remained unclear Wednesday, Tribune interviews show that the DCFS worker arrived at Sucher's residence about 5:45 p.m. Friday.
In an internal email to agency staff, Walker said the worker was there to take protective custody of the child.
Jess McDonald, who served as DCFS director from 1994 through 2003, said investigators are constantly aware of the dangers of their job.
"Every time investigators go out, they do always feel at risk," McDonald said. "They live with it. They go out with a lot of courage."
