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12 years and counting: Child safety backlog continues to grow
On May 28, the director of the state Department of Child Safety acknowledged that backlogs are growing again at the agency. Greg McKay told a legislative oversight committee that the number of hotline reports the agency receives each month is greater than the number of reports the staff can close.
Ducey says DCS transition led to lack of info on foster policy
Gov. Doug Ducey attributed his lack of information about a change in policy at the Department of Child Safety, which in February barred married same-sex couples from jointly fostering or adopting children, to the transition between ousted Director Charles Flanagan and his successor, Greg McKay.
Maybe he should have sent an engraved invitation
Former DCS Director Charles Flanagan told our reporter today that the department implemented a policy under his watch that barred married same-sex couples from jointly adopting or fostering children under the state’s care after Brnovich advised the agency to do so.
Shared DCS case files raise questions about possible privacy law violations
The Department of Child Safety and the Governor’s Office may have broken state and federal privacy laws that shield abused children when the agency shared files to expose flaws in the former director’s system for prioritizing cases.
McKay says order to ‘stop assigning cases’ not a change in policy
Department of Child Safety Director Greg McKay said a message to his staff in which he stated that certain child abuse cases would go unassigned was meant to inspire but was not a policy change.
Greg McKay confirmed as new Child Safety director
The state Senate confirmed Greg McKay as the new director of the Department of Child Safety despite objections from some legislators who say they lacked all the necessary information to vet Gov. Doug Ducey’s appointee.
Flanagan defends his leadership at Dept of Child Safety
Fired Department of Child Safety director Charles Flanagan defended himself against allegations his process of getting through a backlog of cases was dangerous to abused children, and said he’s speaking out for the first time since his firing to defend the record of his administration and DCS employees who have been smeared by recent news reports based on allegations from Greg McKay, the newly a[...]
McKay’s unlikely route to the top
McKay played a key role in creating DCS. As an OCWI officer, he uncovered and blew the whistle on the now infamous “not investigated” label on thousands of cases of abuse and neglect.
Protection first: Former homicide detective takes over as Child Safety director
Vowing to take the recently created Department of Child Safety in a new direction, Gov. Doug Ducey ousted Director Charles Flanagan after less than a year on the job and replaced him with Greg McKay, the investigator whose revelation of thousands of uninvestigated cases at Child Protective Services ultimately led to the agency’s creation.
Soaring child-welfare caseloads push lawyers to ethical limit
A bulging caseload for lawyers in the child-welfare unit of the Attorney General’s Office raises questions about whether they can effectively represent their client, the Department of Child Services.
New child safety agency will have to overcome deep problems from the past
The Department of Child Safety, which Arizona lawmakers approved in a special session May 29 at the urging of Gov. Jan Brewer, may be new, but it still bears the burdens left behind by its predecessor.
Over objections, Senate gives preliminary approval to new Department of Child Safety
The Senate gave preliminary approval to Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal to create a new child safety department over objections from some Republican lawmakers who were outraged by the level of new spending being appropriated without the accountability measures they desired.
