Arizona lawmakers opened a special session to overhaul the state’s child welfare system with a sputter, beginning the session without having finished preparing the bills needed to create a new Department of Child Safety.

Gov. Jan Brewer is asking for nearly $60 million in a special session to begin May 27 to overhaul the state’s child-welfare agency and to close out a backlog of 14,777 abuse and neglect cases.

A small group of child welfare workers made a "dysfunctional" decision to set aside child abuse calls to soften their workload and then tried to hide it.

The rapidly rising number of uninvestigated abuse and neglect reports at Child Protective Services was documented in years of reports to the governor and Legislature, Department of Economic Services Director Clarence Carter confirmed Monday.

Gov. Jan Brewer is willing to give Clarence Carter the benefit of the doubt about his culpability in more than 6,500 uninvestigated complaints of child abuse -- at least for the time being.

Senator blasts CPS after police decide not to pursue charges against him, CPS still investigating
Peoria police found no evidence to support allegations that state Sen. Rick Murphy sexually abused two children living in his home and did not recommend any charges against the senator, according to a police report released July 24. But officials with Child Protective Services are still looking into the matter.