Child Welfare

Do you need help?

Helpline

Child welfare agencies are responsible for safeguarding the well-being of children and intervening when their safety is compromised. Recognizing the connection between domestic violence and child welfare, these organizations intervene when a child’s safety is at risk due to domestic violence. They assess the immediate danger, provide support to the affected family members, and, when necessary, remove the child from the abusive environment to ensure their safety.

However, in practice, the child welfare system in Arizona has historically:

Focused on the non-offending parent when creating safety plans and restrictions

Removed children from non-offending parents for “failure to protect”

Required “behavior change” of the non-offending parent
Placed non-offending parents on child abuse registries, without recourse
Not worked with non-offending and offending parents separately
Had disproportionately high rates of removal of children of color, when best practices recognize that children are almost always better off staying with their parent(s)

Have high rates of removal for domestic violence related causes

Frequently automatically equate domestic violence with child abuse

Current projects or actions:

\

ACESDV works

actively with the Arizona Department of Child Safety, providing ongoing training to ensure new staff understand the unique dynamics of domestic violence and provides expert consultation in changing the systems to be better equipped to respond to domestic violence.
\

ACESDV advocates

for a prevention focus, looking to support parents’ needs before a crisis through housing supports, financial supports, and education.
\

ACESDV supports

Action Circle, a group of survivors working for change within the civil legal system, including child welfare.

To connect with an Victim Services Specialist on the Arizona Sexual and Domestic Violence Helpline along with other related hotlines and resources

Visit
For the Child Wellbeing Chatbot for things such as food and clothing:
Visit
Learn more about the Action Circle:
Visit