PHOENIX — Arizona's Department of Child Safety director is proposing changes to how some runaway incidents are reported, months after an ABC15 investigation exposed hundreds of missing child reports tied to the state's largest licensed group home for foster kids.
Director Kathryn Ptak wants to change what foster care providers do before they call police.
In July, the ABC15 Investigators reported that Queen Creek police received more than 600 missing person calls in less than four years from a large group home campus that includes Canyon State Academy for boys and Desert Lily Academy for girls.
Ptak spoke publicly on the issues ABC15 raised in its reporting during an appearance on KTAR's Mike Broomhead show Wednesday.
"There are some challenges as far as you can't just lock the children in," Ptak said.
Ptak said DCS has about 70 kids at Canyon State and Desert Lily. But the facilities have hundreds of beds and serve high-risk kids, including repeat runaways from multiple agencies.
Ptak said state rules require immediate reporting, but she also said most children missing from care return on their own within 24 hours.
"If you're in foster care, we have to call the police, and now it's a law enforcement matter for something that really sometimes is normal childhood behavior," Ptak said.
Ptak said she would like to change the rules.
"If kid doesn't come home, group home, try and find them first, right? 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," Ptak said.
But ABC15 has reported tragic outcomes involving missing kids from group homes.
Xion Ervin-Jenkins, 15, ran away from Canyon State Academy in 2025 after the juvenile court system decided he needed an out-of-home placement. Six weeks after he disappeared, authorities found Xion dead from heat exposure on the streets.
"I was under the impression that he was going to be safe," Stephanie Combs, Xion's mom, said in a previous ABC15 interview.
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Advocates say cases like Xion — and the deaths of foster children like Emily Pike and Zariah Dodd, who both ran away from different group homes in 2025 — are why every missing-child report deserves immediate attention.
"We don't need any more kids going missing or dying," said Leila Woodard from the Arizona Missing Children's Taskforce during an interview earlier this year.
Ptak said she believes immediate police reporting would still be appropriate for foster children in certain categories, including prior sex trafficking victims, pregnant teens, or youth who depend on medication.
"We're giving them some guidelines of the kids that we think are really vulnerable and at risk," Ptak said.
Ptak told KTAR that DCS expects proposed changes to be discussed during the next legislative session.
Since July, ABC15 has made at least eight requests for interviews with Ptak. We're still waiting for a sit-down to discuss several topics raised during our year-long DCS: State of Failure investigation.
ABC15 also reached out to Canyon State and Desert Lily academies for comment on Ptak's remarks, but they did not issue a response.
You can reach reporter Melissa by email at melissa.blasius@abc15.com or call 602-803-2506. Follow her on X @MelissaBlasius or Facebook. Melissa's on-air story was converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
