This week’s cover story began one Saturday last April when reporter Rick Jervis was working the Saturday shift. Ten days earlier, a farmer had found the remains of a child in his beanfield, and the Indiana State Police had finally identified the long-missing boy. Along with reporter Ofelia Casillas, Rick jumped on the story, discovering that the 11-year-old had been in the Illinois foster care system since 1998.
Rick, who joined the Tribune a year ago, has reported some grim stories–he spent three years in Central Europe–but he was haunted by this particular story, a boy’s journey through the DCFS system. Securing excellent access to the documents, as well as a number of sources close to the case, he was able to retrace Nicolas Zavala’s life. Rick was struck by the child’s resilience–his ability to withstand bouncing from family to family, state to state–all while continuing to make friends and enjoy riding his bike.
At a time when DCFS is under increasing scrutiny, we hope this saga brings the problems into focus by delving deeply into one particular case. “I hope readers will get a sense of what it’s like to be a 7-year-old boy entering a strange system of judges, courts and foster parents, and the struggles just to lead a normal life,” observes Rick. “I also hope they learn that no matter how much attention we pay to the care of children, there’s always room for improvement.”