Arizona DES director Clarence Carter resigned almost immediately after Arizona’s new Governor Doug Ducey was sworn into office. In 2011, Gov. Jan Brewer tapped Carter to the position as he was serving as head of Washington, D.C.’s Department of Human Services.
Under the Brewer administration, the department became embroiled in scandal when it was discovered that more than 6,500 child abuse complaints were closed without investigation.
As a result, Brewer moved Child Protective Services out from under the Department of Economic Security. The new Department of Child Safety was formed and is headed by Charles Flanagan.
When he took the job, Carter told staff in an open letter that he tries to be “a spiritual man with a deep and abiding passion for serving the socially and economically vulnerable of our society.”
Carter served in President George W. Bush’s administration as executive officer of the Department of Agriculture’s Food Stamp Program. He administered emergency food stamp programs after Hurricane Katrina.