Congress needs to do its job – renew funding for children’s health insurance
Called KidsCare in Arizona, CHIP now covers more than 23,000 children across our state. It has helped bring the rate of Arizona children with health insurance to a historic high at 92.7 percent. Instead of celebrating, families have been thrown into uncertainty as the fate of their children’s health care hangs in the balance.
Cash assistance limits dropped to lowest in the nation
Needy families in Arizona will soon be cut off from cash assistance meant to help the poorest parents pay for housing, food and expenses if they’ve received money from a federal program for 12 months or more.
Parents, grandparents, students aren’t fooled by the new state budget
Earlier this legislative session, many state lawmakers grilled Charles Flanagan – who was then director of the Department of Child Safety – about why reports of child neglect are still going up. They pointed fingers, made speeches and issued statements about how important it is to protect child safety and reduce child abuse and neglect.
Arizona children pay more under health law
The families of 14,000 Arizona children who lost health coverage earlier this year are likely paying more for fewer benefits under the Affordable Care Act, according to newly released study.
Response team offers plan to improve child welfare in Arizona
The Child Advocate Response Examination team seconded Gov. Jan Brewer’s call for a separate child welfare agency in its report released today.
Uninvestigated CPS cases slipped below the radar
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.”
CPS using shortcut method to probe abuse cases that were ignored
The plan to plow through 6,110 abuse reports Child Protective Services ignored calls for using a shortcut investigative method that critics say may be a distinction without a difference.
Child safety in Legislature’s hands with fiscal 2014 budget vote
The 2013 legislative session began with a unanimous vote in the House and the Senate to appropriate emergency funding for additional Child Protective Services staff. With that vote, lawmakers affirmed child safety as a top priority and recognized that the dramatic growth in the number of reports of child abuse and neglect and the number of children living in foster care demand increased capacity [...]
Child safety group: Focus CPS improvements on prevention
An advocacy group urged Democratic lawmakers Tuesday to focus on prevention as a key to curbing a state crisis in child safety.
Local taxpayers may see higher rates to pay for school costs
Lawmakers may shift the responsibility for education funding to local property owners as a way of coping with staggering budget deficits in the near future, even though it would translate to higher property taxes.