PHOENIX (AP) - The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is requesting $1 million to help pay for a surge in child welfare cases as well as an additional $9 million for fiscal-year 2017.
Attorneys are leaving the Child and Family Protection Division, citing factors such as poor wages and extreme caseloads, Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s spokesman Ryan Anderson told the Arizona Capitol Times (https://bit.ly/1iH4mty ).
Anderson says each attorney oversees an average of 146 cases, more than double what the American Bar Association recommends for child welfare attorneys.
The attorneys represent the state Department of Child Safety whenever the agency removes a child from a home. The lack of attorneys could back up the child welfare system and cause greater delays in finding permanent homes for children, said Beth Rosenberg, director of Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice for the nonprofit advocacy group Children’s Action Alliance.
“What you get is delays in court hearings because the attorneys can’t be in the courtroom when they need to be in the courtroom - you get delays in filing petitions for severing parental rights,” Rosenberg said.
Brnovich requested the additional money as part of an effort to carve out a budget for 2017.
While attorneys are leaving, neglect and abuse reports are increasing and more children are entering the foster care system. More than 17,000 children are in the system, the highest number in more than a decade.
“Kids are coming in, but they’re not leaving,” said Rosenberg.
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Information from: Arizona Capitol Times, https://www.arizonacapitoltimes.com
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