The Drug Endangered Children Program has continued to address effectively the needs of children found within meth lab environments and to prosecute those responsible for their suffering. Funding provided by the Governor’s Office of Children, Youth and Families along with assistance from collaborative partners have allowed the Attorney General’s Office to complete key accomplishments.

This report provides information relative to reports of child abuse and neglect, investigations, shelter and receiving home services, foster homes, length of care, and adoptions. We continue to work diligently to improve the quality of services for children and their families. Compiling this report provides us another opportunity to review our work and consider new ways to improve.

The best setting for abused or neglected children who are removed from their homes is a family-based setting, such as with a relative or in licensed foster care. Because it is not family-based, congregate care, such as emergency shelters, group homes, and residential treatment centers, is the least preferred placement option. However, the number of Arizona children and the length of time they are in congregate care has increased and as a result, the costs for this placement type nearly doubled between fiscal years 2009 and 2013. Contributing to the increase in congregate care use is an inadequate supply of foster care homes; various state practices, including some related to permanency goals and activities; and inadequate access to behavioral health services. Although the Arizona Department of Child Safety has taken some steps to reduce the use of congregate care, it should consider other states’ experiences to identify multiple strategies for reducing its use.

Arizona must commit to making child abuse prevention an integral part of our child welfare system and community action. To make this a reality, we must link effective public and private programs to form a true prevention network. This plan shines a light on how - together - we can assure more of our children are
safe and healthy, and their parents get help early, before the damage is done.

On February 13 & 14, 2006, Governor Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Terry Goddard sponsored
a solution-focused conference: Addressing the Methamphetamine Problem in Arizona- Enforcement,
Prevention and Treatment - A Call to Action. The Conference provided a quality, fact-based array of
public policy and community action solutions for an audience that included law enforcement, human
services professionals, medical professionals, community-based organizations, educators, Tribal
organizations, the faith community and neighborhood activists.

Nationally recognized speakers provided insight into and recommendations about the impact of
methamphetamine and what is working nationwide in the areas of prevention, treatment and law
enforcement. Arizona experts shared their experiences regarding the impact of methamphetamine on
Arizona children, youth, families and communities, current practices to address the meth crisis in Arizona
and possible future directions. Finally, participants heard the public policy perspectives of some of
Arizona’s policy makers and presented their individual views of the issues and possible solutions.

The purpose of this report is to examine methamphetamine use among adult arrestees and juvenile detainees in Maricopa County, Arizona. We relied on data from the Arizona Arrestee Reporting Information Network (AARIN) to address the following five questions:
1. What percent of adult arrestees are methamphetamine users and what are their social characteristics?
2. What is the relationship between methamphetamine use and arresting offense?
3. What is the relationship between methamphetamine use by parents and the presence of children in the household?
4. What percent of methamphetamine users are receiving treatment for their drug use?
5. What percent of juvenile detainees are methamphetamine users and what are their social and legal characteristics?

For the 2008 AARIN study, 2,105 Maricopa County (AZ) arrestees volunteered to complete the survey instrument and to provide a valid urine specimen for testing. In addition, the arrestees responded to a series of questions related to methamphetamine use, including patterns of use, treatment, drug transactions, sales and manufacturing, and awareness of the Arizona Meth Project. Among those participants, 435 (20.7%) admitted to having used methamphetamine in the 30 days prior to arrest.

The Arizona Drug Endangered Children Program (formerly referred to as the Meth and Kids Initiative) was established in 2000 to address problems associated with methamphetamine production in homes with children present. For the past three years the DEC Program has focused primarily on Maricopa County cases and Task Force members have provided training and technical assistance to agencies throughout the state. Representatives from the DEC Task Force worked together to formalize the multidisciplinary protocol to address the needs of children and ensure the safety of children who are present at an investigation of a methamphetamine laboratory.

In fiscal year 2013, the Department paid at least $14.6 million for transportation services for child protective services clients. However, the Department does not use performance measurement to manage and evaluate these services, including overseeing contracted transportation providers. The Department should develop and implement a performance measurement system to evaluate these services and ensure that this system provides the necessary data to evaluate the appropriateness and cost-effectiveness of contracting for these services. In addition, although the Department has implemented some procedures to help ensure proper payments to transportation providers for these services, additional steps would help address internal control deficiencies.