Valerie sits down with David Lujan who is the former Director of the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Arizona School for the Arts. They discuss his pivotal role in significantly reducing the number of children in care in Arizona. In 2017, there were nearly 19,000 kids in foster care in Arizona. During David’s time at DCS, he oversaw a dramatic decrease in the foster care population, from 13,000 to under 8,000 children. This change was made possible through a strategic shift in case worker mindset, a focus on prevention, community-based services, and keeping children safely with their families. David shares his insights on how Arizona began prioritizing family preservation, including early intervention programs that provided parents with resources and support to address challenges before they escalated to removal.

David also reflects on the challenges he faced in transforming a system that had been designed primarily for intervention into one that prioritized preventing family separation. He explains how collaboration across state agencies, communities, and nonprofit organizations was key to creating lasting change. Tune in to hear about David’s leadership, the lessons learned through this transformative process, and how these strategies could serve as a model for other states striving to create a more family-centered child welfare system.

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Here are some additional resources Heather would like to share with you. 

• A drastic decrease in the number of children in foster care | The Arizona Way
• DCS reaches milestone in safely reducing the number of children in care | Arizona Department of Child Safety

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