Some Arizona foster and adoptive parents experience payment delays

PHOENIX — A few hundred parents of foster and adopted children in Arizona have seen delays in financial assistance payments from the state that are meant to help them care for the children living with them.

Eric Connell and his wife Michelle are caring for two kids in foster care at their home in Kingman. They had to wait two months to receive full payments, which came in on Tuesday.

“It was the first time in months that it was paid, and it was paid in full,” he said.

Connell said the delays began when the Arizona Department of Child Safety switched to a new computer system called “Guardian” to process payments for foster and adoptive parents.

He said the new system is “a lot more challenging to use,” and it has resulted in long periods of time without pay or partial payments.

“It causes a lot of stress as far as buying shoes, clothing and food for the kids,” he said. “These are costs that are coming out of our pocket, and that’s a setback for the other kids that we have in the home that are our own. It’s just like a trickle-down effect.”

DCS Director Mike Faust told KTAR News 92.3 FM the payment delays are unacceptable.

“These foster families are so fantastic that it just pains us that we’ve had these operational issues,” he said. “They don’t need that. It’s not the customer service that we should and aspire to deliver to them.”

Faust explained there are glitches in the new system that have delayed payments for parents of foster and adopted children. He said delays for those with adopted children have mostly been resolved except for an issue related to subsidy daily rates.

“We’re aware of that issue, and we’re working to resolve it,” he said.

Faust said payment delays for foster parents mostly affected those who care for children for a few days during the month. He estimates about 200 families in this situation were impacted.

“Any place where the children were in the home for the entire month, those payments have been made,” he said.

Still, Connell stressed he doesn’t understand why it’s taking so long to resolve all the issues with the new payment system, which went live in February.

“It’s almost June now, so I’m just very confused as to why this is still happening several months after the new system was implemented,” he said.

Faust said he understands the frustration.

“It’s disappointing, but we are working around the clock to make sure individual transactions are corrected and that the system is functioning to its full capability,” he said.

He recommended parents who are still experiencing payment delays call the DCS warmline or contact their foster care licensing agency.

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