By Staff Reporter |

The Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) will implement a new child safety reform set to be codified until Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office intervened. 

Sen. Carine Werner (R-LD4) had championed the legislation that prompted the new policy, SB 1175. It passed the legislature with bipartisan support earlier this month. 

The legislation would have required DCS caseworkers to photograph children during abuse and neglect investigations, followed by a review of those images when evaluating the safety and well-being of those children. Specifically, the legislation would have required caseworkers to consider any decline in a child’s appearance or health. 

DCS leadership announced it would voluntarily adopt the requirements as policy. 

SB 1175 was part of a legislative package of bipartisan reform bills to improve DCS handling of reports of abuse. The reforms were prompted by high-profile child abuse cases in which prior DCS involvement failed to prevent deaths, including 10-year-old Rebekah Baptiste, 14-year-old Emily Pike, and 16-year-old Zariah Dodd.

At Werner’s urging early last year following Pike’s death in 2024, Arizona lawmakers launched an investigation into DCS for systemic failure. The subsequent deaths of Baptiste and Dodd further compelled lawmakers to take expedited action. 

At the time, Werner said the failures of the state had too great of consequences to be ignored.

“These tragedies make it painfully clear that when our child protection systems — both state and tribal — fail, the consequences can be horrific,” said Werner. 

Werner said in a press release issued last week that Hobbs’ office attempted to require SB 1175 to have legislative appropriation. Werner and legislative staff disagreed with the assessment from Hobbs’ office, citing an estimated implementation cost low enough to be absorbed within the existing DCS budget: $50,000. Hobbs’ office refused to relent on their request, and the House opted to recall the statutory route and instead relied on DCS to implement it through policy.

Summaries of SB 1175 noted that the new DCS requirements would have no anticipated fiscal impact to the state general fund. 

DCS Director Kathryn Ptak said the legislation-turned-policy was a “commonsense solution” for keeping children safe while in DCS care.

“I will be issuing a directive to our staff to guarantee each child in our care has an updated photograph to help us maintain accurate records and respond quickly in any situation where a child’s safety or whereabouts need to be confirmed, while continuing conversations around this topic,” said Ptak. “We are grateful to Senator Werner for her partnership in advancing bills that help keep children safe, while also balancing the privacy needs of families.”

Werner said the legislation was a fulfillment of government responsibility to respond to those tragedies that occur despite oversight, especially when it comes to children entrusted to a state system. 

“Children cannot afford for warning signs to be missed. If something as simple as maintaining and reviewing photographs helps a caseworker recognize a child is deteriorating and intervene sooner, then it is absolutely worth doing,” said Werner. “I’m grateful to Director Ptak and the Department for their partnership in moving these reforms forward right away through administrative action. This ensures Arizona’s most vulnerable children benefit from improved documentation and earlier recognition of warning signs without delay.”

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