Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard 2006 Annual Report
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard 2006 Annual Report
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard 2006 Annual Report
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Child and Family Protection Division (continued)<br />
Highlights<br />
• filed 136 adoption petitions.<br />
verdicts in favor of severing<br />
during the year. PSS attorneys<br />
Newly implemented changes in<br />
CPS practices slowed the large<br />
increase in overall case volume<br />
that occurred in prior years. The<br />
FY06 case volume of 6,464 is<br />
only slightly greater than the FY05<br />
total of 6,434. However, FY06<br />
saw significant increases in the<br />
number of appellate cases and<br />
actions brought to achieve<br />
permanency through severance<br />
of parental rights, guardianship<br />
and adoption.<br />
PSS attorneys and staff:<br />
• helped place 4,600 children in<br />
permanent homes.<br />
• helped reunite 1,253 children<br />
with their parents.<br />
• placed 702 children with<br />
permanent guardians.<br />
• helped 1,275 children be<br />
adopted by relatives or foster<br />
parents.<br />
• represented DES in 229 appeals<br />
filed.<br />
• prevailed in 97 percent of all<br />
appeals resolved.<br />
parental rights, a necessary<br />
condition to adoption and<br />
placement of the children in safe,<br />
permanent homes.<br />
Training of CPS workers,<br />
supervisors, attorneys and judges:<br />
In FY06, PSS attorneys provided<br />
legal training to 282 new CPS<br />
case managers who joined DES<br />
also provided advanced training<br />
to approximately 80 CPS case<br />
managers and supervisors<br />
throughout the State and<br />
conducted training sessions for<br />
members of the judiciary. Twentyseven<br />
new attorneys joined PSS<br />
and received extensive juvenile<br />
dependency training. Numerous<br />
in-house training sessions were<br />
• protected more than 11,220<br />
children from abuse and<br />
neglect.<br />
• filed 3,443 dependency<br />
petitions.<br />
• filed 1,316 severance motions<br />
and petitions.<br />
Success in jury trials: In FY06,<br />
216 jury trials were requested in<br />
cases where CPS sought<br />
severance of parental rights. Of<br />
those 216 cases, 30 went to trial.<br />
PSS prevailed on behalf of CPS in<br />
28 of those 30 cases, obtaining<br />
• filed 535 guardianship motions.<br />
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .<br />
Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Robert<br />
Brutinel during Adoption Day 2005. The <strong>Attorney</strong><br />
<strong>General</strong>'s CFP staff participate annually in<br />
Adoption Day where families finalize adoptions.<br />
22
Change language