Officials: 6,600 ignored child-abuse cases closed
Source: Associated Press
Officials: 6,600 ignored child-abuse cases closed
By BOB CHRISTIE, Associated Press | September 25, 2014 | Updated: September 25, 2014 7:17pm
PHOENIX (AP) — A team created after officials in Arizona discovered that thousands of abuse and neglect reports weren't investigated announced Thursday that is has closed all the cases and removed nearly 600 children from caregivers.
The announcement marked a major milestone in the revitalization of the state's child welfare efforts.
It came 10 months after the state's Child Protective Services agency was rocked by the discovery that workers had for several years been improperly marking some calls to a hotline as not worthy of being investigated. The scandal at the state's Child Protective Services department surfaced last November and led to the demise of the agency and creation of the Department of Child Safety, which focuses solely on that mission.
The discovery of the 6,600 uninvestigated cases was a major embarrassment for Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican who had championed efforts to deal with large backlogs at the department. She responded angrily, creating the team that resolved the cases while calling for the creation of a new and much better funded Department of Child Safety to focus solely on child welfare issues.
Brewer called the Legislature into special session in May to create the agency and fund it at levels about $200 million more than was dedicated to child welfare just two years before.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Arizona-closes-6-600-ignored-child-abuse-cases-5781052.php
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