Child Welfare System – Arizona

Arizona’s courts overloaded with CPS cases, By Mary K. Reinhart, May 26, 2012, Arizona Republic: “When the state of Arizona takes custody of a child because of suspected abuse or neglect, authorities ultimately have one goal: finding a safe, permanent home for the child. It’s up to the courts to decide whether to reunite children with parents or place them with relatives or an adoptive family, and experts agree it should happen as quickly as possible. The more time passes, the more likely the children will be traumatized by their experience with the child-welfare system. A recent increase in the number of foster children, with no corresponding rise in staff, has put mounting pressure on juvenile courts and made it more difficult to quickly resolve these cases. In Maricopa County, juvenile ‘dependency’ cases, in which judges determine when or whether a child can return home, have increased by nearly 40 percent during the past three years…”