Arizona’s child welfare agency has agreed to boost behavioral and health services for children in foster care and limit use of group homes for those children.
The move is meant to settle a lawsuit filed by child advocacy groups. The state Department of Child Services also will be required to monitor and limit workloads for front-line workers. The lawsuit was filed by the national advocacy group Children’s Rights, the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest and a Phoenix law firm in 2015 on behalf of 10 foster children and later certified as a class action case.