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 Over the past four years, a team at Arizona's Child Protective
Services agency improperly designated the cases "N.I." — meaning
"Not Investigated" — to help manage their heavy workload and focus
on the most severe cases, said Clarence Carter, chief of the state's
child welfare system.
Under state law, all reports generated via the statewide hotline
must be investigated, Carter said Thursday. He noted plans would be
revealed Monday on how the state will catch up on the overlooked
backlog.
At least 125 cases already have been identified in which children
later were alleged to have been abused.
"I don't know of any fatalities," Gregory McKay, the agency's chief
of child welfare investigations, said of the botched cases.
No one has been disciplined, but Arizona's Department of Public
Safety will investigate.
"There must be accountability in this matter, and I will insist on
further reforms to make sure that it cannot happen again," Gov. Jan
Brewer said.
The practice of misclassifying the cases and essentially closing
them started in 2009, and rapidly escalated in the past 20 months as
caseloads increased, Carter said.
"The idea that there are 6,000 cases where we don't know whether or
not children are safe, that's cause for grave alarm," said Carter,
who as director of Arizona's Department of Economic Security
oversees CPS and other social welfare agencies.
CPS has been one of the governor's major priorities and has suffered
from understaffing and major increases in abuse reports and
workloads in recent years. Brewer got approval from the Legislature
in January for emergency funding for 50 new caseworkers and regular
funding for 150 more in the budget year that began July 1.
The governor called the mishandling of the cases "absolutely
unacceptable."
The head of an Arizona child advocacy organization said the problem
is one of many at the agency.
"This reconfirms what we've already known about the system, which is
that it is overwhelmed and can't function appropriately," said Dana
Naimark the Children's Action Alliance. "It needs revamping and
needs more resources."
Arizona has struggled in recent years with an increase in child
abuse reports, a growing number of children in foster care, and
turnover of child welfare workers. It also has been criticized by
families who lost children, including relatives of a 5-year-old girl
who police in a Phoenix suburb said was killed by her mother despite
previous abuse reports.
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In another case, a woman and her husband were charged with abuse in
the July death of their severely malnourished 15-month-old daughter.
CPS originally investigated the mother at the time of the child's
2012 birth after receiving a report of neglect.
She told hospital officials her six other children were delivered at
home by their father and had never received medical care because of
their religious beliefs, according to CPS records.
"There was concern that the baby would not get the follow-up care
needed," the agency's records stated. However, a CPS investigation
was completed, "and the children were determined to be safe,"
according to the records.
It's unclear if the agency checked up on the newborn. The Associated
Press submitted a public records request in July for the
investigative file, but the agency has yet to provide it.
The parents have since pleaded not guilty, and their other children
are in temporary foster care.
The hotline problems were exposed after two police agencies inquired
about the status of two abuse cases. Both cases had been marked
N.I., McKay said. Further investigation found the practice was
widespread.
The problems were blamed on a special unit that reviewed incoming
hotline reports and decided, like a triage team, which ones were
most serious.
Normally, incoming reports from police, family, doctors or neighbors
would be sent to field offices for investigation, McKay said. But
the specialized unit was reviewing them first and wrongly
classifying some.
The average number of hotline reports generated each month is 3,649,
according to the CPS' most recent semiannual report. Since January,
one in 12 essentially was being closed without investigation.
The 1,000 caseworkers assigned to child welfare investigations
already have caseloads that are 77 percent above the standard,
according to the agency. Carter is asking for an additional 350
workers in the coming budget.
[Associated
Press; BOB CHRISTIE]
Associated Press writer
Brian Skoloff contributed to this report.
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