Veil of secrecy must be lifted from CPS

By Rick Schneider, Publisher
Published on Sunday, May 18, 2008 1:40 PM MST

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.

Comments

6 comment(s)

    Uuuhh... wrote on Jun 4, 2008 12:25 AM:

    " Although I do not in anyway agree with the doctrine of the FLDS...it warms the cockles of my heart to see a CPS (Texas) agency get thier ears pinned back, the way they have recently. Too many times the AZ CPS leaves kids in abusive situations there to die, and then removes children from good families on the basis of an anonymous call. Remember the nutcaseCPS that removed those kids over a bat flying in a house, and then the parents refused to get the series of shots for the kids?
    It was a debacle. Typical CPS. "

    Louise wrote on Jun 1, 2008 12:46 AM:

    " Five years ago, I turned in a Graham County CPS worker to the Greenlee county PD for having two children in a state vehicle with NO child seats in it. The officers investigated immediately, told the CPS worker to call for car seats before returning the children to the foster care . The CPS worker ignored the officers, called the parents visit off early, to avoid the officers, and again drove the children without child safety seats. This was reported to the Safford office, and nothing was done about it "

    Julie wrote on May 22, 2008 3:23 PM:

    " This is a serious national problem. CPS hides behind the secret family courts. They are known to give false and misleading information to the courts. I have been in a court room where a CPS worker lied under oath. I was unable to prove it because I had no right to the court record. More harm comes to the children in state care because of the secrecy that surrounds CPS. I have often wondered what CPS is hiding, at their risk, not the kids. "

    TS wrote on May 22, 2008 12:03 AM:

    " Strip the social "work"ers of their immunities as well while you're at it.

    They admit they can't accurately predict the things they're trying to protect against, so they take anybody's kids for any reason in secret based on hearsay and preponderance of "evidence", i.e. some highly paid therapist's advice, who has every incentive to come up with ideas that are unquestioned as expert evidence, while himself enjoying immunity from all sorts of legal trouble he'd otherwise be in. How many billions of dollars is this exploitation industry worth? And it's all kept secret. (sort of) "

    Dot Knightly wrote on May 20, 2008 4:07 PM:

    " All Secret family court's should be done away with. People need to know what CPS is really up to and the unscrupulous practice's being used on families. Family Court should also have jury trial's, as Judges are one-sided. They only listen to the lies of CPS and never listen to the truth. "

    Accountability wrote on May 18, 2008 11:42 PM:

    " CPS in Arizona appears to be similar to a couple of federal departments such as the IRS and the CIA. No real accountability. All government entities must be & should be held accountable. This is a government by the people, for the people; not the other way around. Mr. Schneider is correct in his assessment. This dysfunctional agency must be accountable. Its employees more carefully screened and their practices revamped. The solution is not MORE $$$$. Perhaps a solution would be to clean house & start over. "

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