PHOENIX (Tuesday, August 02, 2016) – The Arizona Department of Child Safety is confirming that DCS had previously investigated allegations of neglect involving Adalynn Russell, the child who died April 14th, 2016, and her mother, Ms. Natalie Renee Russell, who was arrested by Phoenix Police on July 26th, 2016.
Prior to Adalynn’s birth, there were two reports of neglect against Ms....
PHOENIX (Wednesday, June 15, 2016) - The Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) continues to make measurable progress in turning around the once troubled agency, improving services that strengthen families and keep children safe.
Morale has greatly improved now that the backlog is under control. Â For the first time in years, the average daily volume of work will place investigators...
PHOENIX (Friday, June 3, 2016) - On June 2nd, 2016, the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS), and the Phoenix Police Department conducted a joint investigation into the murder of three children; ages 8, 5, and 2 months. Their mother survived self-inflicted stab wounds and is suspected in the murder. DCS Director Gregory McKay released the following statement:
“It is...
PHOENIX (May 6, 2016) - The Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) has opened the process to complete the agency rules covering the Department's licensing, regulation and enforcement of standards for child welfare agencies under Title 21 Child Safety that will replace existing rules covering the same subject matter under Title 6 Economic Security.
In 2015, DCS created the initial...
PHOENIX (May 4, 2016) - As the inactive case backlog continues its steady decline at the Department of Child Safety, employees have more time to serve Arizona children and families in need. Last week, DCS reached a milestone with the number of inactive cases dropping below the 10,000 mark. After hitting a peak of over 16,200 in February of 2015, today the backlog is at 9,868.Â
Backlog...
Director McKay joined Seth Leibsohn on @960thepatriot to discuss the important role DCS has in the protection and safety of Arizona's children:
"Every year we see a big uptick in reports to our hotline in April because people are more vigilant and more observant and they recognize child abuse prevention. But it's a year round thing. It needs to happen every day, every...
PHOENIX (April 13, 2016) - The Arizona Department of Child Safety congratulates CarePortal in celebrating its national one-year anniversary of helping foster families!
CarePortal connects state child welfare workers with churches in their local communities. In December, 2015 Arizona joined this worthy effort, starting in Pima County. Over 50 families and 125 children have been helped...
Recent media coverage of children being removed from their homes as a result of parental drug usage illustrates the issue of protecting children while respecting parental rights. It is a scenario that the Department of Child Safety (DCS) faces on a daily basis. According to Director Gregory McKay,
“We...
PHOENIX (Tuesday, March 29, 2016) – The Arizona Attorney General’s office issued a formal opinion yesterday upholding the Department of Child Safety’s (DCS) longstanding policy of interviewing children without parental notice in instances of neglect. The opinion overrides a decision reached earlier this year by the Arizona Ombudsman-Citizen Aide Office.Â
The Department of Child Safety’...
Arizonans need to know that the Department of Child Safety (DCS) is making real progress at safely reducing the backlog of inactive cases and reports.
There have been some critical errors in reporting from various media outlets, so here is what this really means. A report of alleged child abuse or neglect will come to DCS, usually through our hotline, and then a case is created from...
