The Legislature has the authority, and indeed the responsibility, to protect our children. We cannot wait for another investigation to be completed before we act. We must do it now.

An Arizona government official says his department will review more than 6,000 unexamined reports of child abuse and neglect by Dec. 2.

A brief Child Protective Services cost-saving measure that was supposed to end after five days in December 2009 has led to the failure to investigate thousands of cases of alleged child abuse, an official testified today.

Rep. Debbie Lesko will challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Murphy in Legislative District 21, citing concerns that his ongoing “personal struggles” could cost the GOP a seat in the Arizona Senate.

Arizona's child-welfare system continues to be strained by increases in reports of abuse and neglect and in placements of children in foster care even as the state makes progress in areas such as reuniting children with families.

More Arizona families face lengthy dependency hearings

Peoria police may not have had enough evidence to support charging Sen. Rick Murphy with molesting two boys in his care, but Child Protective Services believes the latest investigation of the Peoria Republican for sexual abuse allegations is reason enough to take away not just his foster children, but his four adoptive daughters.

Arizona's struggling child-welfare agency faces a continuing increase in its backload of cases while the number of caseworkers remains short of the state's own standards.

Gov. Jan Brewer signed an emergency appropriations bill today that provides $4.4 million for Child Protective Services to hire new staff, and lawmakers sent another bill to her desk to continue funding the Independent Redistricting Commission as it heads to trial in federal court.

A former Phoenix police officer has been hired to oversee the state Department of Economic Security's new Office of Child Welfare Investigations.

State and county officials generally downplayed the significance of a computer glitch at Arizona's child-welfare agency that kept some public records hidden from parents and their lawyers for more than 15 years.