The Arizona Legislature has, in effect, put the Department of Child Safety on probation, allowing it to continue to function for another four years instead of the customary eight The decision is a healthy recognition that DCS, both in its current form and when it was a division of the Department of Economic Security, often does enormous harm to the children it is meant to help.
But recognition is just step one. Lawmakers need to understand what created this mess and how to fix it. The root of the problem is a fanatical drive to tear apart families that has plagued the state for decades. …
