8 Jan 2nd-Jan 8th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Screwed Over Arizona Department of Child Safety discriminated against disabled parents. BY MORGAN FISCHER T he Arizona Department of Child Safety is discriminating against parents and children with disabilities, the U.S. Department of Justice outlined in a report Dec. 16. The 13-page report, which was the result of a five-year investigation into the agency, found the department violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. In a letter to DCS Deputy Director David Lujan, the DOJ said DCS often stereotyped parents based on their disabilities and failed to accommodate their needs. Families with disabilities also had unequal access to DCS services because staff were improperly trained to comply with the law. In the letter, DOJ Civil Rights Division Chief Rebecca Bond gave Lujan and DSC’s attorney two weeks to contact them about reaching a solution. If not, the DOJ “may take appropriate action — including initi- ating a lawsuit — to remedy Arizona’s ADA violations,” Bond wrote. When contacted by Phoenix New Times, DCS Director of Communications Cynthia Weiss stated the department is “reviewing those findings and will work with the DOJ to remedy any alleged viola- tions of the law.” Liliana Soto, a spokesperson for Gov. Katie Hobbs, said in a statement that DCS had Hobbs’ “full confidence” to “address the concerns raised” in the DOJ’s report. The statement also highlighted Hobbs’ background as a social worker while casting blame toward her predecessor, Republican Doug Ducey. “(Hobbs) remains committed to protecting the health and safety of all Arizonans, especially vulnerable children in DCS care and fixing the problems that politicians like Governor Ducey ignored for far too long,” Soto’s statement read. 5 most concerning things in the Department of Child Safety report 1. DCS failed to provide ASL interpreters to deaf parents Despite DCS employees being fully aware that deaf parents needed American Sign Language interpreters, they did not provide them when removing children from those parents’ homes. One deaf mother “did not know that the people trying to talk to her were DCS investigators” because no one there could adequately communicate with her, the report said. She also “could not read the paper that DCS investigators gestured for her to sign” and did not know who was taking her children or where they were going. This incident took a “significant emotional toll” on the family. The department also removed another mother’s children without “communi- cating with her in a way that she could understand,” the report said. The mother’s children were also deaf, and the lack of an ASL interpreter meant the children did not understand what was happening to them either. 2. DCS took two kids from a father with a learning disability after their mother died The father, who the report said “lives inde- pendently and has a big support system,” landed on the DCS radar after the mother of his two children died shortly after giving birth. The department took the newborn baby from the father because they thought he wasn’t feeding the baby properly. But the department also removed the older child because of the father’s disability, even though no safety concerns were cited. Instead, DCS speculated that the father had “developmental delays,” the report said. The older child was returned a few months later, and the DOJ noted that the father has cared for that child with no issues since. However, the report said, “This removal was traumatic for the father and older child, especially because it happened shortly after the child’s mother died.” After more than three years of fighting with DCS, the father gave up his parental rights to his younger child. The DOJ report said, “DCS employees made many deci- sions based on assumptions and stereo- types about the father’s disability” and provided the father with no services to help him raise the children. DCS also refused to grant guardianship to family friends because “DCS thought one of them had a learning or cognitive disability,” according to the report. 3. DCS took a couple’s newborn over autism and ADHD stereotypes DCS removed a baby from a couple in the hospital after making assumptions that the mother’s autism and ADHD made her an unsafe parent. Even though no one from DCS saw the mother with her baby before removal, a DCS employee described the mother as “not on the same level as normal people.” Despite both parents finishing out-of- home and in-home supervised visits for several months with no safety issues, the report said, “DCS employees still expressed vague concerns that the moth- er’s disabilities made her an unsafe parent, based mainly on stereotypes about parents with disabilities.” The DOJ said those concerns were “based solely on the moth- er’s disability” and that “there have been no actions or incidents that DCS could identify” to support them. Despite having no safety concerns about the child’s father, DCS removed the baby without seeing if they could take the child home together. “DCS later labeled the parents as erratic, unpredictable, and impulsive, but did not cite any examples of when the parents have put their child in danger or caused safety concerns because they were erratic, unpredictable, or impulsive,” the report said. “It appears DCS’s character- ization of the parents is based on the parents’ diagnoses of disabilities that affect impulse control rather than on observed behavior.” DCS still requires the father to never leave the child alone with their mother, but it took ages for their baby to be returned permanently to the couple. “The DCS case has been devastating on the parents, who missed out on having their child home for almost two years, including holidays and the child’s first birthday,” the DOJ report read. 4. DCS required a mom to take a parenting class, failed to provide an accessible one After requiring a mother with a learning disability to take a parenting class, the department failed to provide her with a class that accounted for her learning disabilities. “Instead,” the DOJ report said, “DCS made the mother find a parenting class on her own, failed to arrange modifications for her during class, and then criticized her for not participating and engaging in the class without needed modifications.” The mother predictably failed the class. 5. DCS staff used derogatory and outdated terms to describe disabled parents The DOJ said DCS staff “sometimes stereotype parents with disabilities,” calling parents with mental health issues “loony,” “crazy” and “psycho.” “One DCS supervisor described a parent’s learning disability as ‘mental retardation’ even though that term is outdated and an inaccurate description of a learning disability,” the DOJ said. “The supervisor was aware that they should not use that term.” What has the reaction been to the Department of Child Safety report? Rose Daly-Rooney, the legal director of Disability Rights Arizona, said the findings in the report did not come as a surprise. Her organization helped to connect parents with DOJ investigators. “We’ve heard stories about these types of things,” she said. “Everything rang true.” Sherri Collins, the executive director of the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing, said the report emphasized the importance of accessible communication for Arizona’s families with disabilities, which she called a “funda- mental right.” She added, “No family should experience exclusion, confusion or harm due to systemic failures in providing accommodations.” The DOJ’s letter ended by outlining the specific actions DCS must implement to avoid legal action, including training employees on compliance with the law and adopting a grievance procedure for complaints of ADA violations. The DOJ also said the department must pay damages to those injured by the ADA viola- tions outlined in the report. And, the federal government is to receive written status reports from DCS about the depart- ment’s remediation efforts. DCS seems to be working on those changes; it hired an ADA coordinator in August. Daly-Rooney hopes those efforts will continue. She said the department should take the report seriously and coop- erate with the DOJ to “reform the system in ways that are going to really change the experience for parents and children with disabilities.” The U.S. Department of Justice says the Arizona Department of Child Safety often stereotyped parents based on their disabilities and used those stereotypes as justification for taking their kids away. (Courtesy of PeopleImages/Getty Images) | NEWS | | NEWS |
