State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. L.

The state appeals from a circuit court order requiring the placement of L, a 13-year-old child with severe emotional problems, for treatment at the Chazen Institute in Arizona in accordance with the proposed treatment plan formulated by the Children’s Services Division (CSD). CSD declined to place L in the Institute because it determined it had exhausted that portion of its budget allocated for the placement of children in out-of-state programs. The juvenile court found that funds were available and that CSD’s failure to utilize them for L’s treatment was an arbitrary and capricious abuse of…