The Arizona Department of Child Services is responsible for overseeing licensed operators of foster homes.
State auditors say nearly three dozen group homes had no DCS oversight for 16 months.
Arizona has around 2,700 group and foster homes where kids in state custody live.
According to a new state Auditor General report, DCS took more than a year to investigate a complaint against one operator and was slow to look into more than half of all complaints reviewed by state auditors.
For those deemed valid, DCS was also reportedly slow to take enforcement action against a half-dozen foster homes, and didn’t use its power effectively on another half-dozen group homes.
The executive deputy director of DCS agreed with audit findings and to act on all guidance for improvement.
