The Fifty-first Legislature - Second Special Session began Tuesday, May 27,
2014, just after 1:30 p.m. with the goal of carving out Child Protective
Services from the Department of Economic Security (DES). Going forward the new
independent agency will be called the Department of Child Safety (DCS).
DCS will focus its efforts on investigating reports of abuse or neglect, promoting and supporting child safety in either a stable family environment or proper placement, and coordinating services to achieve permanency for the child.
DES will continue to operate the following departments: Aging and Adult services, Benefits and Medical Eligibility, Child Support Enforcement, Developmental disabilities, and Employment and rehabilitation services.
The new DCS will also include the Office of Child Welfare Investigations (OCWI), which discovered six months ago the 6,500 reports of child abuse that were not investigated - the House unanimously approved House Bill 2721 that created OCWI.
DCS will provide the following functions: adoption services, in-home preventive support services, out-of-home support services, CPS emergency and residential placement, independent living maintenance, intensive family services, permanent guardian subsidy, grandparent stipend, child care subsidy, licensing.
Tuesday the House assigned the legislation that cover changes in policy to the Public Safety, Military and Regulatory Affairs Committee, chaired by Rep. Justin Pierce, R-Mesa.
Preliminary estimates put additional funding for DCS at $60 million - $5 million this fiscal year, and an additional $55 million in fiscal year 2015. This money is on top of the $60 million already approved in the 2015 budget for the new agency during the Second Regular Session. The bill was assigned to the Appropriations Committee chaired by Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills.
Of this $60 million roughly $40 million is to address the backlog of 15,000 cases – backlogged cases are ones where an investigation was started, but no attention has been given to the case in over 60 days.
Over $12 million of additional money is anticipated to be spent in fiscal year 2016 to address the backlog for out-of-home care placement, out-of-home care services, and in-home care services.
The legislation will setup a system of real oversight, and better transparency. One of the major changes included in the legislation will be the addition to DCS of in-house counsel that will address legal concerns instead of the Attorney General’s office. It is expected that DCS in-house counsel while protecting the privacy rights of children and family will be better able to assess oversight and transparency concerns that are needed to reform the agency.
Some key changes:
http://www.azhouserepublicans.com/
DCS will focus its efforts on investigating reports of abuse or neglect, promoting and supporting child safety in either a stable family environment or proper placement, and coordinating services to achieve permanency for the child.
DES will continue to operate the following departments: Aging and Adult services, Benefits and Medical Eligibility, Child Support Enforcement, Developmental disabilities, and Employment and rehabilitation services.
The new DCS will also include the Office of Child Welfare Investigations (OCWI), which discovered six months ago the 6,500 reports of child abuse that were not investigated - the House unanimously approved House Bill 2721 that created OCWI.
DCS will provide the following functions: adoption services, in-home preventive support services, out-of-home support services, CPS emergency and residential placement, independent living maintenance, intensive family services, permanent guardian subsidy, grandparent stipend, child care subsidy, licensing.
Tuesday the House assigned the legislation that cover changes in policy to the Public Safety, Military and Regulatory Affairs Committee, chaired by Rep. Justin Pierce, R-Mesa.
Preliminary estimates put additional funding for DCS at $60 million - $5 million this fiscal year, and an additional $55 million in fiscal year 2015. This money is on top of the $60 million already approved in the 2015 budget for the new agency during the Second Regular Session. The bill was assigned to the Appropriations Committee chaired by Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills.
Of this $60 million roughly $40 million is to address the backlog of 15,000 cases – backlogged cases are ones where an investigation was started, but no attention has been given to the case in over 60 days.
Over $12 million of additional money is anticipated to be spent in fiscal year 2016 to address the backlog for out-of-home care placement, out-of-home care services, and in-home care services.
The legislation will setup a system of real oversight, and better transparency. One of the major changes included in the legislation will be the addition to DCS of in-house counsel that will address legal concerns instead of the Attorney General’s office. It is expected that DCS in-house counsel while protecting the privacy rights of children and family will be better able to assess oversight and transparency concerns that are needed to reform the agency.
Some key changes:
- Improves hotline protocol for reports of abuse and neglect, and allows email, text and other web based methods for reporting abuse
- Establishes an Inspection Bureau that will independently review and ensure that internal policies and procedures are being adhered to by DCS
- Establish a 15-member community advisory committee
- $350,000 to rescue children from the child pornography industry; Paul Jagosh withwww.protect.org estimates that 15,000 people in Arizona are trading or creating child pornography.
http://www.azhouserepublicans.com/
