Local experts like new efforts to investigate child abuse, but they also call for prevention (AZ)

Local experts say a new report about how to improve Arizona's child abuse investigations is a good start, but in the long term they'd like to see a much stronger focus on preventing child abuse in the first place.
"If we can do that, we can break the cycle," said Rebecca Ruffner, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Arizona based in Prescott Valley.
"I think it's imperative CPS look at prevention," agreed Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, including prevention of substance abuse. "To me, it's obvious and it's just incredibly sad we have to wait until... a child is a victim of child abuse."
Arizona has some of the worst statistics in the nation when it comes to child abuse, Ruffner noted.

More than 14,300 Arizona children are in foster care, and that's more than a 45 percent increase between 2007 and 2012, according to DES statistics. Only seven other states saw increases during that time period, and their increases all were below 20 percent.
Those are numbers produced before another 700 children entered foster care when the CARE Team got caseworkers caught up on the uninvestigated cases over the last few months, Ruffner noted.
Ruffner believes that heavy cuts in state government programs that help families is a major reason for the huge increase in foster care children in Arizona. 
The Legislature "cut to the bone" services such as child care subsidies, Kids Care health insurance, and in-home intervention services such as Healthy Families, she said. Facing their own cuts, schools laid off nurses and counselors who are required to watch out for signs of child abuse.

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