Veil of secrecy must be lifted from CPS
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Three bills are winding their way through the legislative process that will bring much needed accountability to Child Protective Services.
HB 2453 would open certain court proceedings previously closed to the public. HB 2454 would open up CPS records in cases involving the fatality or near fatality of a child unless prosecutors could establish that the release of such records would cause material harm to a criminal investigation, and HB 2159 would make state employees’ disciplinary records, including an employee’s responses, available to the public.
This legislation is the result of Arizona House Government Committee hearings to learn why three children died while under CPS supervision. CPS officials refused to acknowledge mistakes, so no one was held accountable.
Since the hearings more children have died and been abused while under the watch of CPS.
Dave Wigton, a CPS employee for 30 years, was recently accused of molesting a 4-year-old girl. Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts wrote that Wigton has been “accused of turning a little girl into his own personal sex toy and sharing kiddie porn with a teenage boy.” Police reports indicate he shared adult and child pornography with other minors.
CPS officials feel the public shouldn’t be concerned because the victims were not clients, a claim they refuse to prove.
Roberts reported that Wigton became a supervisor after working directly with children for 16 years, which makes you wonder if more children might have been molested.
We’ll never know because this information cannot be released to the public.
Arizona Republic attorney David Bodney was quoted by Roberts as saying, “It’s a very good illustration of what’s wrong with the agency’s approach to the public records law. You’ve got a public official accused of criminal activity involving the well-being of children, and that employee works for a state agency. It’s difficult to imagine an overriding interest of secrecy.”
CPS hides behind secrecy laws because it is more interested in protecting its image than in being held accountable to the public. Children will continue to die until the agency’s dirty laundry is aired and we can get to the root of this dysfunctional state agency’s problems.
