Republican Rep. David Schweikert criticized adoption agencies for predatory practices during a hearing this week featuring celebrity Paris Hilton, founder and CEO of 11:11 Media.
Schweikert came to the conclusion through his experience adopting his two-year-old son, the brother of the little girl they’d adopted before him. According to Schweikert’s remarks during Wednesday’s Ways and Means Committee hearing, adoption agencies impose prohibitively expensive adoption fees — even if the mother had just given birth and they had no role in the pregnancy or birth up to that moment, as was in his case.
“Two years ago this week, all of a sudden I’m getting text messages from my office, saying there’s a social worker who needs me to call her. Okay. I immediately assume I have a family member who needs bail money. I call the social worker and the first words out of her mouth were, ‘Are you going to come pick it up?’ Pick up what? Apparently the birth mother of the little girl we had adopted six years earlier had walked into the hospital, no prenatal care, substance abuse, and had a little boy. The little boy was very small, and going through withdrawals. […] One of the greatest things that’s ever happened in our lives. But before we were able to walk out of that hospital with him, turns out an adoption agency worker had gotten the birth mother to sign a piece of paper. Now remember, the birth mother had said, ‘Hey, the Schweikerts had adopted my little girl. This is the brother, wouldn’t that be nice if they could be together?’ We were told we had to sign a piece of paper for $40,000 before we were allowed to walk out the door with the baby because the baby belonged to adoption services. How does a middle class family adopt with these types of costs?”
Schweikert reflected on his experience to compare with Hilton’s testimony, which detailed her allegations of inhumane treatment at a congregate-care facility. The congressman concluded that the child welfare system suffers from financial greed.
“Mrs. Hilton actually said something that was brilliant. It’s about the money,” said Schweikert.
Yesterday, @ParisHilton bravely shared her traumatizing experience at a congregate-care facility with the Ways & Means Committee.
Having such a prominent voice express the flaws within the child welfare system is invaluable. pic.twitter.com/6RQkqlRteE
Hilton recounted how she was taken to a youth residential treatment facility at 16 years old. She testified that, under “troubled teen” programs promising “healing, growth, and support,” she had actually faced two years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.
Hilton testified she was force-fed medications, sexually abused by staff, violently restrained, dragged down hallways, stripped naked, forced in solitary confinement frequently, and deprived of views of the outside world.
“My parents were completely deceived, lied to, and manipulated by this for-profit industry about the inhumane treatment I was experiencing,” said Hilton. “Can you only imagine the experience for youth who are placed by the state and don’t have people regularly checking in on them?”
As reason for her testimony, Hilton advocated for the reauthorization of Title IV-B, a Social Security Act provision that created two child welfare programs with federal funding under two parts. Part 1 enacted Child Welfare Services while Part 2 enacted Promoting Safe and Stable Families.
Hilton also advocated for the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act and again declared support for the Senate Finance Committee’s “Warehouses of Neglect” report.
This latest hearing of the Ways and Means Committee was the latest in a long string of hearings on the subject, more than any in the last eight congressional systems combined per the committee. The committee has been conducting a thorough review of Title IV-B over the past year.
Committee Chairman Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, outlined a number of pervasive issues with the child welfare system: inadequate kinship care support, high social worker turnover, excessive bureaucratic red tape, slow hearings and lack of lawyer access for families, remaining barriers for Native American tribal families, high rates of mental health issues in older foster youth, and discrimination rather than support for impoverished families.
Watch Wednesday’s full hearing below:
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A Democratic election worker was arrested Tuesday for the theft of keys and a security fob belonging to the Maricopa County Elections Building (MCTEC) where he volunteered.
MCTEC surveillance footage captured 27-year-old Walter Ringfield Jr. putting the keys and fob in his pants pocket last Thursday, June 20. An employer discovered the theft and confronted Ringfield about it. Though Ringfield initially denied the theft, the keys were discovered later in his vehicle.
The fob remained missing, according to a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office press release. Ringfield claimed to law enforcement that he returned the fob approximately 20 minutes after taking it. The county reprogrammed the fobs and disabled the one Ringfield claimed to have returned.
Ringfield reportedly told police that he returned the fob out of regret and a desire to “clean up” his life, starting with permanent employment at MCTEC.
The Arizona Daily Independentreported that Ringfield filed a statement of interest last year to run as a Democrat for U.S. Senate this year.
On Wednesday, the Arizona Senate GOP posted that they now suspected that Ringfield stole from a Senate employee earlier this month. The GOP coalition reported that the Department of Public Safety has undertaken an investigation into the matter.
“The suspect appears to be the same individual recently arrested for stealing from Maricopa County,” said the Senate GOP. “In response to requests from the public, we are releasing surveillance video of the incident.”
UPDATE: DPS is investigating a theft of some personal items from a Senate employee. The crime occurred at the Senate on June 15th. The suspect appears to be the same individual recently arrested for stealing from Maricopa County. In response to requests from the public, we are… pic.twitter.com/RrNZQ4Q7f4
According to a since-deleted LinkedIn profile, Ringfield volunteered at Our Voice Our Vote and graduated from Arizona State University. Ringfield also interned for Tempe City Council member Berdetta Hodge and former state representative and congressional candidate Jevin Hodge.
The latter Hodge resigned earlier this year from the House of Representative amid allegations of a past sexual assault.
Ringfield’s Truth Social profile, which is still active as of this report, prompted some media outlets to initially label him a straightforward Republican or, at the very least, right wing. Ringfield did repost some content supportive of President Donald Trump and retweeted content from right-wing individuals, politicians, and outlets, among them Melania Trump, Steven Crowder, Fox News, Townhall, Conservative Brief, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Sean Hannity, and The Federalist.
However, Ringfield has also posted remarks like, “We are a nation built on enslaved immigrants,” and “Transgender people is not new transphobia is.”
One picture he posted depicted him with a woman named Sofia (Sonya) Schmerer, his longtime girlfriend who supports Black Lives Matter and goes by “they/she” pronouns per her social media, alongside CNN Analyst Bakari Sellers, and both Berdetta Hodge and Jevin Hodge.
More telling of Ringfield’s political interests and beliefs are apparent under his online persona “Alphonso SunDevil.” His Facebook profile header, updated at the beginning of June, reposted the city of Phoenix’s graphic for its Pride Day pronoun badge/button making with ASU Museum: the LGBTQ+ flag with the Sun Devils hand gesture superimposed.
Other photos from Ringfield’s social media show his involvement or support for the Arizona Education Association, Senator Mark Kelly, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Phoenix Vice Mayor Lauren Kuby, Congressman Greg Stanton, and Tempe Mayor Corey Woods.
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On Monday, an Arizona court ruled that government “prevailing wage” mandates for businesses were unlawful.
The Maricopa County Superior Court issued a ruling against the cities of Phoenix and Tucson concerning their prevailing wage ordinances, which required contractors on public works to pay its workers according to city and federal rate determinations. The Department of Labor defines prevailing wage as that average wage paid to similarly employed workers in a specific occupation in that area of intended employment.
The Maricopa County Superior Court agreed that state law (A.R.S. § 34-321(B)) prohibited any city from enacting such prevailing wage ordinances as the cities of Phoenix and Tucson had done in January.
“This Prevailing Wage Statute, by its plain language, prohibits any Arizona political subdivision, such as the City of Phoenix and the City of Tucson, from enacting an ordinance that requires contractors and subcontractors to pay their workers less than the prevailing rate of wages. Nevertheless, both cities did just that on January 9, 2024,” read the ruling.
Phoenix Ordinance G-7217 and Tucson Ordinance No. 12066 required city contractors or subcontractors under a contract with an aggregate value of $4 million or more and $2 million or more, respectively, to pay workers not less than the prevailing wage rate for the same class and kind of work in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Both cities required certain record keeping and instilled penalties for violations including contract rescission, disqualification from future city contracts, and liquidated damages up to three times the wages owed.
Yet, the cities argued that their ordinances were protected under Proposition 202, or the Raise the Minimum Wage for Working Arizonans Act. The cities claimed that the act functioned under the doctrine of implied repeal: since the act and state law were inconsistent, the act took precedence since it came after state law. The superior court rejected that interpretation, since the act itself didn’t address the term prevailing wage, and there remained definable differences between prevailing wage and minimum wage.
“A prevailing wage ordinance is not a minimum wage law, and the Minimum Wage Law did not impliedly repeal the prevailing wage prohibition because the two laws can be harmonized by ‘reasonable construction,'” stated the court. “They have fundamentally different underlying policy goals. Moreover, unlike minimum wage laws, which set a single, across-the-board floor on wages, prevailing wage measures impose a complex, fluctuating schedule of wage standards (determined by federal law and regulation) meant to approximate average wages for specific occupations and localities.”
The Goldwater Institute, in partnership with attorney Robert G. Schaffer, sued Phoenix over its prevailing wage ordinance on behalf of the Associated Minority Contractors of Arizona, the Arizona Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, and the Arizona Builders Alliance.
The institute’s vice president for legal affairs, Timothy Sandefur, said in a press release that the ruling protected fairer wages for workers.
“Today’s decision is a victory for Arizona taxpayers — who deserve to have public works projects run as closely as possible to true market conditions, instead of having their costs decreed by politicians in order to benefit their political friends,” said Sandefur. “It’s also a win for workers themselves, who deserve to do work in a competitive environment where wages are based on merit, instead of political dictate.”
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On Saturday, Democratic Mesa lawmaker Lorena Austin hosted a drag show fundraiser open to all ages.
The legislature’s first “nonbinary,” “gender nonconforming” elected official planned the event from 9 to 11 pm at Meno’s Place in Mesa. The event required a $10 cash cover charge to enter. Along with offering $5 raffle tickets, Austin teased the appearance of an unnamed, special guest, in addition to the MC, a drag queen named Gypsy Rose.
Austin first posted about the fundraiser event back on June 1 to commemorate the beginning of Pride Month.
Back in March, Austin drew ire for hosting a controversial drag queen story hour event hosted at the state capitol. House leadership claimed Austin misled them to reserve the conference room where the story hour took place. House Speaker Ben Toma revoked Democrat access to House meeting rooms as a result of Austin’s event.
“Use of House facilities for radical activism to promote dangerously perverse ideology will not be tolerated while I am Speaker,” posted Toma.
Democrat Rep. Lorena Austin deliberately misled House leadership to reserve a conference room to host a drag story hour with Planned Parenthood.
Use of House facilities for radical activism to promote dangerously perverse ideology will not be tolerated while I am Speaker.
Austin responded that it was “ridiculous” that she was accused of being dishonest or deceitful, let alone perverse for promoting LGBTQ+ ideologies in children.
The drag story hour took place ahead of an “LGBTQ+ Youth Day” at the Capitol, arranged in part by One-N-Ten. That organization recently made headlines for hosting a name change clinic advertised by the DeMiguel Elementary School in the Flagstaff Unified School District.
One-N-Ten provides LGBTQ+ programs to minors as young as 11 years old, focusing on topics such as sexual health and gender identity.
The gender nonconforming lawmaker won her first election thanks to a majority of funding from out-of-state Democratic money. Austin campaigned in part on rolling back laws prohibiting males from joining female sports teams and gender transition surgeries for minors.
This time around, Austin is campaigning on some of the same things — increasing teacher pay, establishing more affordable housing, expanding Medicaid access, and greater legalization of abortion — though missing from her priorities are those related to LGBTQ+ policies.
Austin is defending a seat in a historically Republican district, though she and another Democrat, Seth Blattman, won in 2022.
According to testimony from Austin in a promotional video for her alma mater, Arizona State University, she discovered her gender identity after joining an LGBTQ+ activist community in St. Louis, Missouri following the 2014 death of Michael Brown. This epiphany occurred after she dropped out five times from Mesa Community College; Austin credited her involvement in the ensuing protests to her desire to return to continue her degree at MCC and then finish at ASU.
ASU awarded Austin a scholarship through a leadership program launched by President Michael Crow. She graduated ASU in 2020 as the dean’s medalist for the School of Transborder Studies.
Austin was one of the primary opponents of a bill prohibiting schools from using preferred pronouns or names rather than those that align with a child’s biological sex or birth certificate, respectively.
Governor Katie Hobbs cited Austin’s testimony in opposition to the bill as evidence that the legislation would be harmful, and that transgenderism among children was something to be supported, not opposed.
Hobbs’ husband, Patrick Goodman, helped children embark on gender transitions in his capacity as a Phoenix Children’s Hospital Gender Support Program counselor.
The hospital was known for its provision of comprehensive gender-affirming care to gender dysphoric children. As part of his job, Goodman consulted with minor patients about the application of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
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The Arizona legislature’s new budget for the state nixed the Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) at the behest of Department of Education Superintendent Tom Horne, who called the program a “waste of classroom time.”
The KEA required teachers to assess their students within the first 45 calendar days of enrollment.
Horne issued a press release earlier this week acknowledging the change as motivated by educators’ disdain for the program, which the superintendent said was reportedly viewed as “an unnecessary bureaucratic requirement.” Horne said eliminating the KEA would improve academic results through reducing teacher paperwork.
KEA’s elimination wasn’t sudden: the education department reported that it reduced the program’s administrative requirements by over 80 percent last year. Although, Horne said he would have eliminated the KEA earlier if he’d had the legal authority to do it on his own.
“Over time, the KEA had ballooned into an endless morass of paperwork that meant teachers had to spend too much time on bureaucratic requirements versus time with students,” said Horne. “Now the legislature has taken the welcome step of entirely removing the legal requirement for the KEA, which frees up more time for teachers to spend on classroom instruction.”
Several public school leaders offered support for Horne’s decision.
“Superintendent Horne reviewed our feedback on the KEA in our Kindergarten classes,” said Dysart Unified School District Superintendent John Croteau. “The KEA duplicated many of our current practices and took away valuable instructional time. This decision prioritizes student interests by focusing on maximizing valuable classroom time to enhance student learning opportunities.”
“Superintendent Horne and his department sought feedback directly from kindergarten teachers and families about the time, student privacy, and resources lost to KEA and we appreciate the swift and effective action taken to eliminate this program in the best interests of Arizona kids!” said Challenger Charter School CEO Wendy Miller.
According to last year’s KEA requirements, teachers were to observe the following learning and development objectives in their students during instruction: social emotional development (manages feelings, follows limits and expectations, responds to emotional cues, interacts with peers, solves social problems); physical (uses fingers and hands); language and literacy (tells about another time and place, follows directions, notices and discriminates rhyme, notices and discriminates alliteration, uses and appreciates books and other texts, uses print concepts); cognitive/approaches to learning (attends and engages); and mathematics (counts, quantifies, connects numerals and quantities).
School districts and charter school governing bodies were given discretion through the last legislative session as to the appropriate evaluation methods or assessments to accomplish the KEA. Prior to that, educators had to rely on the Teaching Strategies GOLD (TSG) platform to complete KEA. TSG usage and accurate KEA completion required additional training from teachers, with the introductory course amounting to three hours alone.
Arizona’s KEA requirement can be traced back to 2013 when the state launched a pilot initiative, The Kindergarten Project, through partnership with the Arizona State Board of Education, First Things First, Alesi Group, and Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust.
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