Last month on The Show, we spoke with Arizona Republic Editorial Director Phil Boas about permanent guardianship and why it can be a good alternative to foster care for many children in our state.

With the number of children in foster care high in Arizona, the Editorial Board argued that the state needs to provide more assistance for permanent guardians.

Permanent guardianship is a way out of foster care for more than 600 Arizona children a year. These are kids who can’t be returned to their homes — because it’s not safe — or cannot be adopted because there are not grounds for termination of their parental rights. So, they usually go to a family member or close family friend.

According to Beth Rosenberg, it’s a way to keep children safe, out of the foster care system and with people they know and trust.

But, permanent guardians don’t get the same kinds of supports that adoptive parents do. The Show's Lauren Gilger spoke with Rosenberg more about this. She’s the director of child welfare and juvenile justice at the Children’s Action Alliance, and she is supporting a new bill that’s aimed at fixing these problems.