Ruling: Prisoners must be offered services to remain parents

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday that state child-welfare officials considering whether to terminate parental rights of inmates facing long prison sentences have a constitutional duty to first offer reunification services to those prisoners who want to try to keep their children. The Arizona justices said state law doesn’t require the state to offer reunification services to help maintain bonds between prisoner-parents and children. But the justice it’s necessary because a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision said parents have a “”fundamental liberty interest” in the care, custody and management of their children. The Arizona justices acknowledged that their ruling’s requirement for offering reunification services departs from a 2005 appellate court ruling.