Arizona lawmakers created a new child-welfare agency which will provide an extra $60 million to improve a scandal-ridden system that last year was found to have ignored nearly 6,600 reports of abuse and neglect, according to The Associated Press.
Less than a year after revelations that thousands of child abuse and neglect reports in Arizona had gone uninvestigated, the state has overhauled its child welfare agency and funded it with tens of millions more than in the past, the AP reported.
Legislators from the state Senate and House of Representatives approved two bills to transform the beleaguered existing agency into a cabinet-level organization, bolstered by additional caseworkers and investigators, to focus on child safety, the AP reported.
Governor Jan Brewer signed the two bills into law, creating and funding the new child welfare agency, now known as the Department of Child Safety, according to the AP.
The governor's office said the agency will be funded at a total of $845 million once all accounting was tallied for the budget year starting July 1, more than $200 million more than lawmakers allocated just two years ago, the AP reported.
"It is a momentous day for Arizona, as we take the boldest and most meaningful step in state history to reform and replace our problem-plagued child welfare system," Brewer said, the AP reported.
Brewer called lawmakers into session last week to focus on rebuilding the state's child welfare system after officials discovered last November that thousands of hotline calls reporting abuse and neglect were never investigated, according to the AP.
Brewer said the plan and the deal that led to its quick passage were comprehensive and sound, the AP reported.
"Is it perfect? Probably not. Is it a new beginning? You betcha," Brewer said, according to the AP. She said it was a new way of Arizona "protecting our children, and it's probably going to end up being the model for the country when we get done with it."
