PHOENIX (AP) - Gov. Jan Brewer’s $9.3 billion budget proposal includes nearly $74 million to pay for hundreds of new child welfare workers, investigators, supervisors and support staff and launch a new stand-alone agency to handle child safety.
The proposal released Friday also asks the Legislature to approve more than $15 million to be spent right away to begin hiring workers.
The governor wants the money as part of a developing plan to completely overhaul the state’s Child Protective Services department. The troubled agency has been shaken by revelations that more than 6,500 child abuse and neglect reports were ignored in recent years as a way to deal with understaffing and high caseloads.
Brewer ordered CPS pulled out of its parent department this week and wants $25 million to create the new agency.
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