Lawmakers demand greater oversight of Arizona’s Department of Child Safety | Arizona Capitol Times

Key Points:

• Legislators want to review licensed group homes

• Some are concerned children are too often labeled as runaways, not missing

• Move is part of a larger push for oversight of the Department of Child Safety

House and Senate Republicans are moving to organize greater oversight into the Department of Child Safety following the deaths of multiple children who were known by the department.

Sen. Carine Werner, R-Scottsdale, announced on Aug. 6 that she’s organizing a closed stakeholder meeting of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on DCS in September to review state protocols for licensed group homes and child welfare oversight. 

The announcement followed an Aug. 1 Phoenix Police news release announcing two men were arrested and charged with the murder of 16-year-old Zariah Dodd after she left her group home in Surprise. 

One of the suspects, 36-year-old Jurell Davis, is believed to be the father of Dodd’s unborn child and is also charged with sexual misconduct with a minor.

Lawmakers have become increasingly alarmed with the practices of DCS and group homes in the state. During the recent legislative session, Gov. Katie Hobbs signed “Emily’s Law,” named after 14-year-old Emily Pike, who was murdered and dismembered after she fled a group home in Mesa.

The law created the Turquoise Alert system, which the Department of Public Safety will issue if a person under the age of 65 has gone missing and law enforcement believes the disappearance is underexplained or suspicious. 

In a news release, Werner also cited the recent death of 10-year-old Rebekah Baptiste, whose father was arrested and charged with murder and child abuse. According to the release, DCS received multiple reports of child abuse from Baptiste’s father. 

“The deaths of Emily Pike, Zariah Dodd, and Rebekah Baptiste should be a wake-up call for us all,” Werner said in a statement. “These tragedies make it painfully clear that when our child protection systems — both state and tribal — fail, the consequences can be horrific. We cannot allow these failures to repeat.” 

Werner isn’t the only lawmaker interested in using legislative authority to examine DCS. Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, told the Arizona Capitol Times that he has requested permission from House leadership to organize a House Government Committee meeting to hear from DCS and law enforcement about issues involving missing children. 

The Turquoise Alert from Emily’s Law functions in a similar way to an Amber Alert. The state used it for the first time on July 23 for 6-year-old Violet Coultas, who was found less than a day later after the alert was issued, according to a DPS news release. 

“Turquoise Alerts are an essential tool in quickly notifying the public and mobilizing law enforcement when a vulnerable individual is missing,” DPS Director Colonel Jeffrey Glover said in a news release. “In this case, the system worked exactly as intended.”

Lamakers also hope the new law will be used to help locate missing indigenous individuals, where their communities have long dealt with high rates of assault, abduction and murder of tribal members, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The National Crime Information Center reported 5,712 cases of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls. However, the U.S. Department of Justice’s missing persons database, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, only logged 116 of those cases.

Emily Pike was a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. The sponsor of the bill that would become Emily’s Law, Rep. Teresa Martinez, R-Casa Grande, said during the 2025 legislative session that she was frustrated that the state wasn’t looking for Pike when she went missing. 

“Over the years, Tribal communities have faced the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons without advanced emergency systems in place and we see the Turquoise Alert as a proactive step in the right direction,” Inter Tribal Council of Arizona President Paul Russell said in a July 10 news release after the Turquoise Alert system became active in the state.

Blackman said in an Aug. 4 video posted to X that the Turquoise Alert is a good step for lawmakers, but more needs to be done by the state Legislature. 

“We’re all at blame for this in government,” Blackman told the Arizona Capitol Times.

One issue that Blackaman raised was how missing children are often labeled as runaways. Under state law, children labeled as runaways do not require law enforcement to assign a missing persons detective. 

The statute does require law enforcement agencies to submit identifying information of a missing child within two hours of notification to the Arizona crime information center and the national crime information center.

A 2023 auditor general’s report on DCS and missing children showed children are much more likely to be reported as a runaway rather than missing. About 200 more children were reported as runaways in each calendar month of 2020 than missing, according to that report. 

Werner’s committee is scheduled to meet on Sept. 3. A Senate news release notes the meeting will not be open to the public, but will be a stakeholder meeting with DCS, Tribal Nations, law enforcement, legislative members and child welfare experts to identify potential legislative and regulatory remedies.