OPINION — According to the Department of Child Safety, Arizona has approximately 7,600 children in foster care, but only about 3,000 licensed foster families. This shortage is just one of the challenges faced every day in the child-welfare community in Arizona.
The department’s foremost objective is to ensure that the child remains in their home whenever feasible. If safety concerns prohibit this, the department strives to place children into settings that closely resemble a family environment. In the last several years, DCS has made a concerted effort to place children into family-like settings.
That means there is a constant need for kinship and community foster homes.
