Former Arizona agency director lands post in Trump administration
May 22, 2017, 8:15 AM
(AP File Photo)
(AP File Photo)
PHOENIX — The former director of an Arizona state agency that came under fire for neglecting children has quietly joined the Trump administration.
Clarence Carter has been named director of the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Family Assistance.
Carter was in charge of the Arizona Department of Economic Security in 2013 when it was rocked by scandal that revealed thousands of child abuse and neglect cases had been ignored.
An internal investigation of the department’s Child Protective Services showed that more than 6,000 cases were never investigated. Carter was named director in November 2011.
Then-Gov. Jan Brewer eventually shut down CPS and replaced it with the Department of Child Services, which is now independent of DES.
Carter resigned in January 2015, shortly after Gov. Doug Ducey took office. Five department child welfare supervisors were fired after the scandal.
In his new job, Carter will oversee nearly $17 billion in annual welfare grants to assist families in states, territories and on Native American reservations.
He has worked for a president before, under George W. Bush. During that stint, Carter was in charge of federal food stamp programs.
He also ran the social services agency for Virginia.
Carter was among the finalists for the Nebraska Health and Human Services top job in 2015.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
