DCS director’s comments on missing foster children draw concern from advocates

PHOENIX — Local advocates are raising concerns after Arizona Department of Child Safety Director, Kathryn Ptak, suggested the state should consider changing the requirements for reporting missing children in foster care.

In a recent interview with ABC15’s news partner, KTAR, Ptak suggested group homes should first be allowed to attempt to locate a child before calling police. 

“If a kid doesn’t come home, group home try and find them first right?” Ptak said. “Don’t call the cops right away. Call them, call their friends. Call, you know what you would do if it’s your own child.”

During the interview, she said that most children return within 24 hours.

The comments drew concern from advocates, like Leila Woodard who founded the Arizona Missing Child Task Force.

“You know, waiting is not an option in my mind,” Woodard said. “This is a child’s life, and it’s urgent.”

Woodard said immediate reporting and action is critical, particularly during the first 24 to 48 hours after a child goes missing. 

“If it’s an administrative burden, we need to find a way to fund it or provide the resources necessary so that job can be done,” Woodard said.

She also questioned whether group homes would have the information needed to contact friends.

If staff did know people to call, Woodard believes that process could play out while waiting for police to respond. 

“It typically takes three hours, two to three hours, for police to come out and take a report,” Woodard said. “That is the time where parents, group home staff, foster parents can make the calls to school, to family, to friends, to see if the child’s there.”

Current DCS policy requires group home providers to immediately report to police when a child is missing. 

State law also establishes timelines requiring DCS to notify law enforcement and the child’s relatives.

Woodard said advocates have spent years pushing for stronger protections for vulnerable children and warned against weakening reporting requirements.

She acknowledged that teenagers in foster care can desire independence.

“By keeping these measures in place, we’re showing them that they matter, that we love them, and that they’re important,” she said.

Ptak told KTAR there are circumstances where immediate law enforcement involvement remains appropriate, including cases involving foster children who are pregnant or who have previously been victims of sex trafficking.

Woodard hopes to meet with Ptak to discuss solutions and believes a greater focus on prevention could help keep children from going missing in the first place.

ABC15 requested an interview with Ptak before publishing this story, but the request was denied.

Our team reached out again for a comment but did not receive a response.