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FAMILY FUNDING
Kids come with a cost
Oncken to decide if he will resign Board member also a conflict public defender By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI jduchnowski@shawmedia.com
Photo Illustration by Danielle Guerra
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its annual report this week on Expenditures on Children by Families, or the cost of raising a child. The report showed a middle-income family with a child born last year will spend about $245,340 to raise the child to age 18. The estimate does not include costs during pregnancy or for college or other higher education for the child.
Report: About $245,340 will be spent to raise a child born in 2013 By JESSI HAISH
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jhaish@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Kris Collin attributes the growing cost of raising children to “all the extras.� Collin, of DeKalb, has three children ranging from 8 to 14 years old and has found the older children get, the more expensive they become. She said enrolling her daughter, a freshman at DeKalb High School, for school and sports this year was expensive, saying it was about $300 before sports and extracurriculars were added to the tab. “There’s so many things available to [children,]� Collin
Do you think you spent a greater portion of your income on your children than your parents spent on you? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com. said. “Summer camps, sports, extracurricular activities. It adds up. And I used to think, ‘I can’t wait to not have to buy diapers anymore.’ Diapers are expensive. But the prices are getting higher as they get older.� The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its annual report this week on Expenditures
on Children by Families, or the cost of raising a child. The report showed a middle-income family with a child born last year will spend about $245,340 to raise the child to age 18. The estimate does not include costs during pregnancy or for college or other higher education for the child. Dori Delacruz, a mother of four from DeKalb, was unfazed by the price tag. “It’s not shocking,� Delacruz said. “Costs have changed since I was a kid. Kids want vacations, cellphones.�
Costs of raising a child to age 18 (Not including pregnancy costs, child’s higher education) 2013: $245,340 2010: $213,840 2007: $204,060 2004: $184,320 2001: $170,460 1998: $156,690 1995: $145,320
Source: USDA Expenditures on Children by Families reports
See FAMILY, page A5
SYCAMORE – DeKalb County Board member Riley Oncken plans to decide by early next week if he will resign in light of new questions about him also serving as a conflict public defender. Oncken, a local defense lawyer and a Sycamore Republican, was appointed to the District 3 Republican County Board seat in March 2013, about four months before DeKalb County Presiding Judge Robbin Stuckert appointed him to one of four special public defender positions. Conflict public defenders, who are paid $24,250 a year and are eligible for county health benefits, handle cases where the public defender’s office would have a conflict of in- Riley Oncken terest. Oncken said he was poised to be appointed chair of the County Board’s Law & Justice Committee on Wednesday, when he and other board members were surprised by an unAnthony published Illinois Attorney Cvek General’s opinion suggesting he might not legally be able to hold both positions. DeKalb County State’s Civil Division Chief Stephanie Klein advised Oncken last week that he could legally hold both positions based on research that did not include the unpublished opinion. The revelation prompted Oncken and County Board leaders to put off the committee chairman vote. Oncken and DeKalb County State’s Attorney Richard Schmack are reviewing the opinion, while County Board member Anthony Cvek, a Sycamore Republican in District 4, is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate Stuckert’s appointment. “When you have the chief law enforcement officer of the county and the chief judge of the county both signing off on this, it raises some serious questions,�
See ONCKEN, page A6
American Ebola patient released from hospital By KATHLEEN FOODY The Associated Press ATLANTA – Calling it a “miraculous day,� an American doctor infected with Ebola left his isolation unit and warmly hugged his doctors and nurses Thursday, showing the world that he poses no public health threat one month after getting sick with the virus. Dr. Kent Brantly and his fellow medical missionary, Nancy Writebol, who was quietly discharged two days earlier, are still weak but should
recover completely, and no one need fear being in contact with them, said Dr. Bruce Ribner, who runs the infectious disease unit at Emory University Hospital. Brantly’s reappearance was festive and celebratory, a stark contrast to his arrival in an ambulance under police escort three weeks earlier, when he shuffled into the hospital wearing a bulky white hazardous materials suit. “I am thrilled to be alive, to be well, and to be reunited with my family,� Brantly said, choking up as he read
a written statement. Then he and his wife turned and hugged a parade of doctors and nurses, hugging or shaking hands with each one. For some, it was their first direct contact without protective gear. After Brantly, 33, and Writebol, 59, were infected while working with Ebola victims in Liberia, their charity organizations, Samaritan’s Purse and SIM, reached out to top infectious disease experts for help. Working connections, they obtained one of only
five courses available worldwide of an experimental drug known as Zmapp, and Brantly and Writebol split the doses before being evacuated to Atlanta. The other four were later given to a Spanish priest, who died, and three doctors in Africa, who have been improving. Writebol’s son, Jeremy Writebol of Wichita, Kansas, spent two weeks at the hospital with her but he left Tuesday morning. “I haven’t given her a hug
AP photo
See EBOLA, page A6
Ebola victim Dr. Kent Brantly (right) hugs a member of the medical staff that treated him after being released Thursday from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
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