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It was announced yesterday that Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will head a task force set up by Governor Jan Brewer to fix the current mess at state Child Protective Services, despite controversial comments he made last month about creating an investigative unit separate from CPS that would determine whether police or CPS case workers handle certain child-abuse cases.
The task force was created in response to the deaths of 10-year-old Ame Deal and 6-year-old Jacob Gibson, who were each allegedly murdered by members of their own families, despite each being on CPS’ radar for years.
More on Deal and Gibson here and here.
Under Montgomery’s plan, “if investigators deem a child a potential victim of serious abuse, authorities would segregate the child from other family members, including siblings, and place the child with a specially trained foster family. CPS would have no further involvement.”
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According to the county attorney, CPS has proven itself to be incapable of handling the massive amount of cases it receives every year. Montgomery’s plan would take some of the burden off of the agency.
Child welfare advocates aren’t thrilled with Montgomery’s plan and say it goes too far. They would rather see more money dumped into CPS and better training for child welfare employees.
We want to know what you think: can Montgomery’s plan fix the mess at CPS?
Cast your vote below.
