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The deaths of three Tucson children who police said were killed by their parents have reignited a debate in the Arizona Legislature over government's role in protecting children.

The focus inevitably turns to the performance of Child Protective Services, the state agency charged with doing what its name plainly states: protecting Arizona's children. We all want to know what CPS workers did to protect these children, what they didn't do and why. We want to know if the authorities, who were aware of these children, missed opportunities to save 5-year-old Brandon Williams, 4-year-old Ariana Payne and her 5-year-old brother, Tyler.

Hard questions must be answered. One of those questions must be how CPS workers are paid and how effectiveness is measured.

One of CPS' goals is to keep children safely at home with their biological parents — a fine goal, provided it can be done. But society must recognize that this goal is not always the best remedy for the child. All parents are not nurturing caregivers.

Rep. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, has questions that suggest there is some financial incentive for those caseworkers who focus more on keeping children at home rather than recommending foster care, despite suspicions of abuse or neglect.

The final decision on whether children can remain safely at home is made by the courts.

We do not believe that CPS workers leave children in dangerous situations for financial gain. There are much easier ways to make money, even in state government.

But state policy must be clear and vigorously enforced to assure there is not even the slightest hint that an employee may be rewarded for recommending an action that could prove detrimental to a child's welfare.

Starting salaries for caseworkers are around $30,000. All CPS workers deserve more.

CPS cannot do its job alone. The state House budget proposal allots $5 million for in-home services for families in the CPS system, while the Senate provides $7 million, according to Rep. Pete Hershberger, R-Tucson. The services should be fully funded, as should substance abuse intervention, as 80 percent of parents involved with CPS have drug or alcohol problems.

Every community has an obligation to keep its most vulnerable safe, and states have agencies like CPS because some wise policymakers realized that a child's biological home is not always the safest place for a child to live.

So when the tragic holes in what is supposed to be our safety net are revealed, it is tempting to look for quick answers. There are no quick answers. No matter who did what and followed which rules, the reality is that three children are dead. That cannot possibly be described as anything but a failure.

Lawmakers who seek family unification above all else undoubtedly have good intentions, but reality dictates they acknowledge that contemporary society is riddled with some nightmarish family scenarios.

We can't solve everything, but the emphasis should be on the safety and health of the child caught in a potentially dangerous situation.