Capital Times

The Arizona Legislature has, in effect, put the Department of Child Safety on probation, allowing it to continue functioning for another four years instead of the customary eight. The decision is a healthy recognition that DCS, both in its current form and when it was a division of the Department of Economic Security, often does enormous harm to the children it is meant to help.

But recognition is just step one. Lawmakers need to understand what created this mess and how to fix it. The root of the problem is a fanatical drive to tear apart families that has plagued the state for decades.

• In 2022, Arizona removed children from homes at a rate 50% above the national average.
• Black children are taken nearly 2.5 times more than their population rate.
• Arizona overuses group homes/institutions nearly twice the national average.
• Maricopa County removes children at the highest rate among the 10 largest U.S. counties.
• Nearly 6% of Black children in Maricopa County will permanently lose their right to live with parents.

This is justified by the Big Lie — that removing more children means protecting more children. But Arizona’s take-the-child-and-run mentality actually makes kids less safe.

In Arizona, 91% of children in foster care were placed there without any allegation of sexual or physical abuse. More than 60% didn’t involve substance abuse. Often, these cases are just about poverty.

Studies show children left at home often fare better than those placed in foster care — even when abuse was suspected. Foster care itself isn’t always safe: 25–33% of homes have reported abuse, and group facilities are worse.

Overwhelming caseworkers with minor or false claims means they have less time to protect kids in real danger — the root of Arizona’s tragic failure.

What Should Change?

• Invest in reducing the effects of poverty — even small support helps.
• Provide quality defense counsel to families the moment DCS arrives.
• Reject the Big Lie. True child safety comes from preserving families, not breaking them apart.

Richard Wexler is Executive Director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, www.nccpr.org

Source: Arizona Capitol Times