Child Welfare Systems – Arizona, Pennsylvania

Arizona’s foster-care crisis deepens, By Mary K. Reinhart, August 9, 2013, Arizona Republic: “Arizona is caring for a record number of foster children as child-welfare workers juggle an ever-growing number of abuse and neglect reports, according to a new state report. The biannual report shows that the state’s Child Protective Services now has 14,314 children in foster care, an increase of 40 percent since March 2010, and continues to be buried under an avalanche of reports, most of them alleging that children are being neglected…”
Focus on foster care in Pa. yields falling numbers, By Mark Scolforo (AP), August 6, 2013, Philadelphia Inquirer: “A six-year effort by the state court system and child welfare agencies has reduced by a third the number of abused or neglected Pennsylvania children in foster care or similar settings, a process that officials say has improved the lives of some of the state’s most vulnerable residents…”