While we rightly have concern over the welfare of children in the more than 6,000 cases that Child Protective Services failed to investigate, imagine what the reaction would be if 150,000 people in Arizona went missing and there was no investigation.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Cari A. Harrison denied the Arizona Capitol Times’ request that hearings regarding allegations of child abuse against Sen. Rick Murphy be opened to the public.

The team assigned to check on the safety of children associated with abuse calls that went without investigation has found no “significant’’ cases after seeing more than 2,000 children in the first month of work.

A senior Republican legislator wants to use tobacco-tax dollars to help fund the embattled Child Protective Services, which was recently rocked by revelations that it ignored more than 6,000 cases of abuse and neglect over several years.

Money was beginning to flow again to Child Protective Services after the economic downturn of the last decade. But the public disclosure on Nov. 21 that more than 6,000 calls into the Child Abuse Hotline were set aside without an investigation evaporated any illusion that CPS was changing for the better.

In early 2009, Child Protective Services revealed for the first time in its Child Welfare Semi-Annual report that legitimate calls into the Child Abuse Hotline “were not assigned” and “were not investigated.”

Some Child Protective Services workers believed to have been involved in preventing thousands of abuse reports from being investigated also took part in a new quality assurance review of the cases in recent weeks.

Speakers at a Dec. 3 CPS Community Forum stepped to the microphone three minutes at a time for two hours to deliver old news: Foster parents get no respect, caseworkers are overworked and underpaid, and the Legislature is tight-fisted.

Authorities search for new ideas in the face of an ongoing crisis

Some lawmakers say Child Protective Services needs more money. Others say it should become its own agency, separate from the Department of Economic Security. Another cautions against “reactionary legislation” that won’t really solve anything.

Ten years ago this week, Arizona lawmakers were on the verge of approving a law to strengthen Child Protective Services and ensure the agency investigates all cases of neglect and abuse.