Child Protective Services is now requiring its investigators to check court records for all cases involving custody disputes and not to take action that might conflict with pre-existing court orders.
Officials with the state agency said the change was not prompted by the death of Ariana Payne and the presumed death of her brother Tyler, which came after a court order granting custody to the children's mother was ignored by Tucson CPS workers and the police.
The policy change, and others, went into effect Wednesday. CPS workers were notified of it in a mass e-mail on Tuesday.
CPS caseworkers are now required to "make efforts to confirm and obtain copies of orders restricting or denying custody," says the e-mail from Ken Deibert, deputy director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security. The new rules also require that workers not make a child placement that "in any way conflicts with the order."
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The new policy comes about seven months after the case of 4-year-old Ariana and 5-year-old Tyler was made public. Documents have shown that CPS workers and Tucson police did not follow a court order that gave the children's mother, Jamie Hallam, sole custody of the children without visitation rights.
Instead, CPS and the Tucson Police Department kept the children with their father, Christopher Matthew Payne, and his girlfriend, Reina Gonzales, who are charged with murdering the two.
The policy change was not prompted by the Payne case, Deibert said. Rather, it was the result of an overall policy review and the recent adoption of a new assessment tool.
"We looked at a number of issues that related to how staff gather information," he said. "We wanted to provide clarity to our staff around what our expectations were."
Deibert has said in the past that the Payne case was handled appropriately. Asked if the new policy reflects a change in that position, he said, "You are talking about then and now."
The failure to follow Hallam's court order has been a central aspect of the case, which was first reported in February when police found Ariana's decomposing body in a trash bin after it had been placed in a storage locker. Tyler's remains have not been found, but he is presumed dead.
Hallam was granted sole custody of Ariana and Tyler in June 2003, records show. Despite the court order, she allowed her children to visit Payne in January 2006, but he never brought them back.
Hallam tracked the children down on March 9, 2006, at Payne's apartment, but police refused to help her get the two back after a CPS worker told them Hallam was being investigated on a neglect allegation.
However, a letter to Hallam shows the neglect allegation was unsubstantiated, and her case had been closed on March 1, 2006.
State Rep. Jonathan Paton, a Tucson Republican who called for a CPS hearing to be held next week, said he couldn't see how the policy change could not be connected to the Payne case.
The real question, he said, was why checking court documents was not required to begin with.
"It just seems like something they already should have been doing and something that I understand that many of these caseworkers were doing," he said. "The question is: Do they need something to remind them to follow the law? It seems pretty straightforward: Follow the court order."
Paton will be able to ask that question and many others at next week's CPS hearing. Deibert will testify at the hearing along with DES Director Tracy Wareing, CPS Program Administrator Janice Mickens and Lillian Downing, who heads CPS in Pima County.
In recent weeks there had been some discussion and questions about whether Downing would appear at the hearing.
"Initially, CPS wanted Mr. Deibert to handle the questions, but when I explained to them my rationale for why Ms. Downing should also participate, they agreed," said state Rep. Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, who will lead the hearing.
While Deibert and Wareing are relatively new to their positions, Downing oversaw CPS in Pima County while the Payne case and the case of Brandon Williams — a 5-year-old who died in March despite CPS contact — played out.
"We are trying to get as close to the situation as we possibly can," Adams said. "It's very important that the members get as broad and as deep of an understanding of these two cases as possible. We certainly couldn't do that without hearing from the district supervisor."
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