6,000 Arizona child abuse reports since 2009 not investigated

PHOENIX – About 6,000 cases of suspected child abuse or neglect that were reported to a statewide Arizona hotline over the past four years were never investigated, officials disclosed Thursday, calling it reason for “grave alarm.”

A team at Arizona’s Child Protective Services agency improperly designated the cases “N.I.” – meaning “Not Investigated” – to help manage the heavy workload and focus on the most severe cases, said Clarence Carter, chief of the state’s child welfare system.

Under state law, all reports generated via the hotline must be investigated.

All the cases will be reviewed, officials said. At least 125 cases already have been identified in which children were later alleged to have been abused, they said.

“I don’t know of any fatalities,” Gregory McKay, the agency’s chief of child welfare investigations, said of the botched cases.

No one has been disciplined, but Arizona’s Department of Public Safety will investigate.

The practice of the cases and essentially closing them started in 2009, Carter said. The number rapidly escalated in the past 20 months as caseloads increased and other changes were made, he said.

“The idea that there are 6,000 cases where we don’t know whether or not children are safe, that’s cause for grave alarm,” said Carter, who as director of Arizona’s Department of Economic Security oversees CPS and other social welfare agencies.