AZ Political Podcast: Carine Werner discusses efforts to reform DCS to improve child safety

It feels like state Sen. Carine Werner, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, is working against the clock to reform the Department of Child Safety (DCS) before another girl or boy is murdered or lost in the system.

Three girls were murdered last year while either under the care of, living in a group home supervised by, or on the radar of DCS workers.

Werner, my guest on the AZ Political Podcast this week, explains why only one of the 12 calls that reportedly came from Rebekah Baptiste’s school to DCS — before the death of that 10-year-old girl — had the weight necessary to cause action on the part of DCS. And Werner tells me what she’s trying to do, legislatively, to decrease the chances of more Rebekahs slipping through the cracks.

What’s also shocking (or maybe not so much) is the average amount of time workers stay on the job at DCS — and what can be done to increase the level of experience at the agency.

I know that we will never have a world (or a state) where zero kids die of abuse or neglect, but Sen. Werner is working with a whole lot of people to try to get us as close to that number as possible.

It is something we should all work toward — because what was said in a PSA about foster kids a few years ago is so true: “these children belong to all of us.”

The AZ Political Podcast is available at KTAR.com, the KTAR News app and everywhere you get your podcasts.

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