CHILD ABUSE IN ARIZONA

An Unincorporated Division of the Anonymous Anything Society 11/27 /2013

A Thanksgiving Story: How three Tucson girls escaped being allegedly imprisoned and mistreated by their parents

I had just written the commentary below, titled "Child Abuse in Arizona" when a story broke in the local press about three underage sisters, 12, 13 and 17, described by Tucson Police as being filthy and malnourished. The two younger siblings fled to neighbors claiming that their stepfather had kicked in the door to their bedroom and threatened them with a knife. When police removed their older sister from a separate bedroom, the younger girls told authorities that they had not seen her for possibly as long as two years.

Their mother and stepfather were booked into Pima County Jail under three counts of kidnapping, three counts of emotional child abuse and thee counts of physical child abuse. The stepfather also faces charges of sexual abuse with a person under 15 years of age.

Item 1 from the Police Report: The 12 and 13 year old girls told police that they were fed only once a day and hadn't had a bath in several months.

There seems to be no end to these kinds of stories.

Without knowing more, one has to wonder how this escaped the attention of neighbors and Child Protective Services. Of course, we shall once again hear much more of this painful episode.

CHILD ABUSE IN ARIZONA

I wish we had something a little less painful to bring to your attention, but the latest news about Child Protective Services of Arizona demands immediate and drastic action by you and me.

I should begin by praying that the situation regarding mistreatment, most especially the escalation of murder by parent or guardian, is being better addressed in your state than has the sad history of Child Abuse in Arizona.

After a series of incidents in recent years when children were terribly abused - with violence and starvation causing their deaths, the Arizona Legislature passed statutes last year directing how the protection of children could be better supervised under the umbrella of the Arizona Department of Economic Security.

In 2012, DES programmed an attractive web site and set forth a well-defined Policy and Procedure Manual for the Division of Children, Youth and Families, as demanded in Arizona Revised Statues.

Prior to writing this essay, I read the manual. It is not being followed, and something real and present must be done about that.

In a cursory reading, it appears to be comprehensive. A hotline for reporting Child Abuse was established. A Standard Response Time of two hours was mandated for the purpose of determining the initial response to a report of abuse.

An initial response can be a CPS Specialist's attempt to make face to face contact with the alleged victim, a phone call with law enforcement or other emergency personnel who is with the alleged victim, or a phone call with medical personnel who can confirm the child is with them, under such and such medical condition, or deceased, as is far too often the case of late.

One section of the Arizona law on Child Abuse that demands further investigation includes among numerous specifics, allegations of substance abuse by parents or care givers, violent and threatening behavior by parent or guardian, evidence of impact injury, immersion burn, Shaken Baby Syndrome, delayed or untreated medical condition, comatose state or debilitation from starvation, or if the child alleges instances of sexual abuse. All demand quick and conclusive investigation, changes brought about and if necessary, severe criminal charges brought.

I do not know how many of the hot line reports are being received. News reports say that instead of investigating some 6,000 complaints of child abuse, someone in CPS has marked each of the 6,000, "NI" - not to be investigated. Whomever made this precipitous determination has not yet been identified.

When this was brought to the attention of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer by a member of a special legislative oversight committee, Brewer turned the matter over to the Department of Public Safety for investigation. Good for her.

Given Arizona's dismal record in protecting abused children, 6,000 (I'm always suspicious of nice round numbers) decisions to reject out of hand that many allegations of child abuse coming from peace officers, members of the clergy, educators, and concerned citizens, causes me to question the reason for so much non-intervention.

This is bolstered by the knowledge that any person acting with malice who knowingly or intentionally makes a false report of child abuse is guilty of a crime.

If the root problem is lack of personnel or funding, this has to change as quickly as possible. If the coffers are empty, than there should be an immediate rescheduling of priorities.

Perhaps we need to set up a Child Protective Service and remove it from the Department of Economic Security.

Good luck to residents of other States. I hope you handle this painfully disgraceful situation better than we have in Arizona.

Phil's current post can be read at: http://www.imrightagain.com

If you wish to comment, Phil can be reached at:

k7os (at) comcast (dot) net

"AgainRight"