DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND PROTECTIVE SERVICES

A report from Department of Family and Protective Services watchdogs paints a picture of a roughshod safety-net system that is unprepared to protect its youthful charges from predators and unable to keep them from endangering themselves.

The Department of Family and Protective Services has increasingly relied on housing foster kids in hotels when it can’t find them a home. In the 2022 fiscal year, after record staff turnover, more than 1 in 4 caseworkers had less than one year of experience.

Advocates say better accounting of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the state’s care and better access to translators are needed.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ investigations division has seen record-high staff turnover, with 4 in 10 investigators leaving their jobs in 2022.

Legislators also passed bills that will provide foster kids entering the troubled system with duffel bags or backpacks and those aging out of the system with help setting up bank accounts.

A U.S. district judge has long presided over a court case that found Texas’ foster care system unconstitutionally harms kids. Tuesday’s hearing was the first appearance by the state’s new team of defense attorneys.

Lawmakers were assured that outsourcing management of foster care services would fix the state’s troubled child welfare agency. But the rollout of the new model, set to be completed by 2029, has been complicated by setbacks.

The legislation came after The Refuge, a Bastrop foster care facility, hired a caretaker without knowing she had a history of sexual misconduct with children at a state juvenile facility. Coworkers also concealed evidence of the abuse, which further put the foster girls at harm.

House Bill 63 is an attempt to reduce the amount of vindictive or false child abuse reports made to the state, but child advocates say it will deter valid reports, too.

The action came after The Refuge, a Bastrop foster care facility, hired a caretaker without knowing her history of misconduct.

Residential facilities did not refill medications in a timely manner, failed to follow psychiatric orders and, in several instances, violated state guidelines, court monitors documented after site inspections. The lawyer representing the foster kids said it could be “the tip of the iceberg.”

The upper chamber unanimously passed Senate Bill 182 after The Texas Tribune reported that a state-licensed foster care facility hired a caretaker whom the Texas Juvenile Justice Department previously fired for having inappropriate relationships with children.

Relative caregivers, like grandparents who want to keep kids out of foster care, usually get half as much state assistance as strangers who take in children.

Sharon Fonvielle-Baughman said Texas Department of Family and Protective Services leadership has failed to support the special investigators division, a unit created in 2005 to handle the most high-risk cases.

Caseworkers and foster care providers often get incomplete and inaccurate information about foster kids in their care because of the state child welfare agency’s archaic technology system.

In the state’s final brief to appeal a September injunction that halted the investigation into Texas parents of transgender children, Paxton argued that individual families must provide evidence of harm from the actions of the Department of Family and Protective Services.

Bills that would give relative caregivers more money have missed key deadlines to make it in front of the full House.

Texas lawmakers and a federal judge say attorneys in the case against the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services should not hire lobbyists using funds won in court.

Most reports of child abuse or neglect turn out to be unfounded. But while under investigation, parents with little understanding of their rights or the process often make decisions that could impact the fate of their families.

Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Stephanie Muth told lawmakers Friday the agency will require a different set of skills from its employees as it changes how foster children’s cases are managed.

As Judge Janis Jack continues to threaten contempt-of-court fines in a federal lawsuit against the state’s foster care system, advocates say the case has moved the needle on reform — but it has come with a hefty price tag.

The judge warned the state could be held in contempt of court for not following through with three mandates: youths not knowing their rights, not adequately responding to abuse allegations and still having too many children without placement.

In a fifth report tracking the state’s efforts to remedy its embattled foster care system, federal monitors documented persistent risks to Texas children ahead of next week’s court hearing.

Two girls in the care of Child Protective Services were allegedly sexually assaulted in October after sneaking out of a facility run by the state agency. Advocates say it’s a symptom of the Texas foster care systems’ problems.

Republicans are backing legislation targeting gender-affirming care for children, classroom lessons about sexuality and drag shows.

Texas allows religious groups that are part of the state’s child welfare network to refuse to assist LGBTQ couples seeking to foster or adopt. That could put critical federal funding at risk.

Texas policies targeting access to health care for transgender youth forced one family to leave the state.

Former DFPS commissioner Anne Heiligenstein was tapped by Abbott in June to serve as the agency’s executive deputy commissioner. Last month, she was out. Now she’s back.

The department is terminating the contract of Executive Deputy Commissioner Anne Heiligenstein, who was supposed to work until next June, amid a staffing crisis. The chief of staff for the agency’s top leader has also left.

Residential treatment centers are meant to be a last resort for children in the state’s care, reserved for those with histories of severe trauma caused by neglect or abuse.

Friday’s injunction applies to all members of PFLAG, an LGBTQ advocacy group with more than 600 members in Texas.

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services leaders instructed employees to avoid written communications about the cases and barred low-level employees from handling the investigations, according to internal agency communications.

Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents who provide their children with gender-affirming care, driving one such family to leave home.

A spokesperson told The Texas Tribune that all employees are trained before supervising youth. DFPS Commissioner Jaime Masters apologized to the child and her mother.

During Robert “Rich” Richman’s short tenure, he oversaw the investigation of parents who provide gender-affirming care to their transgender children and the mishandling of allegations of sex abuse at a foster care facility.

At least 48 Texas children are housed at facilities run by organizations under an investigation launched by two U.S. senators.

The Supreme Court cited safe haven laws as an abortion alternative when it overturned Roe v. Wade. But Texas’ policy lacks funding and just 172 infants have been relinquished since 2009.

The state has been investigating whether parents who provide access to gender-affirming health care are committing child abuse. The temporary restraining order is part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of three families and members of PFLAG, an LGBTQ advocacy group.

The judge in the 11-year federal lawsuit against Texas said the state has not properly punished or shut down unsafe child care placement facilities or curbed the rate of children who are sexually victimized while in the state’s care.

The high court also raised questions about why the state opened these investigations in the first place, noting that the child welfare agency is not bound by directives from the governor.

The court-appointed watchdogs expressed concern after learning that a caretaker accused of exploiting children at a state-licensed facility in Bastrop had been previously fired from a state juvenile justice facility for misconduct.

State records show Iesha Greene was fired in 2020 from a state juvenile facility for having inappropriate relationships with children. The Refuge said it was aware of her previous work there, but it never requested her publicly available personnel records.

Candidates hardly ever talk about improving the safety net for kids — unless the holes in the safety net have become big enough to get the attention of voters.

Other investigators don’t want to follow an order they believe harms families but worry about the impact of a mass employee exodus on the state’s most vulnerable children.

Most of the deaths were attributed to “preexisting medical conditions” or abuse suffered before the children entered the system, according to the DFPS report. The numbers are on par with those reported in previous years.

In this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Reese and Mitchell about the fallout from sexual abuse allegations at a state-contracted children’s shelter and Russian threats against Texas’ energy infrastructure.

U.S. District Judge Janis Jack said she is seeking a federal criminal investigation into allegations that children were sexually abused and trafficked at The Refuge, a state-licensed foster care shelter for victims of sex trafficking.

Brooke Crowder said The Refuge is working to incorporate a deeper employee screening process with the help of a company recommended by the governor’s and attorney general’s offices.

The temporary injunction was issued as part of a lawsuit brought on behalf of parents being investigated by child welfare workers for letting their transgender teenager access gender-affirming health care.

The former child care investigations director said there are agency-wide communication issues that led to a breakdown in relaying key information, but two of his staff members are the ones who suffered the consequences.

It took him three years to come out to his mother as trans. Now, under a new directive from the governor, the state is investigating whether she pressured him to transition.

It was also revealed at a special Texas Senate committee meeting that the Texas foster care worker who allegedly sold nude pictures of girls is also accused of dating a child trafficker.

An attorney representing foster care children in a suit against Texas said Department of Public Safety director Steve McCraw’s conclusion that there was no evidence of sexual abuse despite the investigation into the photos was “both surprising and extremely troubling.”

Texas judge blocks the state from investigating gender confirming care for transgender youth as child abuse.

The Refuge, which closed Friday, said it fired an employee accused of coercing the victims to sell nude photos as soon as it found out. The Bastrop-based shelter has not addressed the other eight staff members also accused of causing harm to the girls.

The Department of Family and Protective Services has been under federal court monitoring for over a decade for violating the civil rights of kids in foster care. Now, the short-staffed agency has to investigate parents who provide their children with gender-affirming care.

District Judge Amy Clark Meachum said the governor’s directive for the state child welfare agency to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming care to their children was “beyond the scope of his authority and unconstitutional.” The statewide injunction will remain in effect until the case is heard in July.

A Texas judge is blocking the state from investigating as child abuse gender confirming care for transgender youth.

The children were sexually abused and neglected while at The Refuge, a facility located in Bastrop contracted by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, according to a report from a current employee.

Citing potential criminal penalties, Texas Children’s Hospital will no longer provide hormone therapy to transgender patients.

Around 40% of the foster children in the state’s care who are ages 5 and older have not received a COVID-19 vaccine despite being eligible.

As Texas’ long-running struggle to find enough placements for foster care children persists, more than 100 kids were sent out of state last year.

The state’s foster care system has been dangerous to children and embarrassing to the state for years. But with state officials constantly chasing other issues, it’s still suffering from neglect.

The federal judge overseeing the decadelong lawsuit against Texas for conditions in its foster care system cut this week’s hearing short. She proposed all parties involved, including the governor, “cut to the chase” to identify solutions.

Medical experts say gender affirming care for transgender children rarely, if ever, includes use of the surgeries Abbott cited in his letter to the head of the Texas Department of Family Protective Services.

State officials knew children were being illegally housed in an unlicensed facility but did not notify the court, despite a mandate from a federal court judge that came as part of a decade-long class action lawsuit against the state on the behalf of foster children.

Due to a donation from Pasadena Memorial High School students, BEAR, also known as Be A Resource for CPS Kids, were able to significantly increase their reach this year, providing more than $15,000 worth of gifts. “We basically wanted it to be a magical night then Covid happened,” said Pasadena Memorial senior Maya Arredondo. The class of 2020 has shown time and time again what their hearts are truly about,” said Pasadena Memorial principal Jeremy Richardson. Hetmaniak said the students’ gifts were heavily sought after and brought many smiles to many teens under CPS care. Arredondo said the seniors were happy to give back and said they hope that the children under CPS care know how loved they truly are.

The Department of Family and Protective Services is seeking public comments on its proposed rules to implement two important new laws that strengthen quality early care and education. The Department proposes eliminating a requirement that no more than half of the required training hours can be from self-instruction or online training. Classroom training provides a check to the misuse of online training that can occur if a student borrows the work of another or receives weak online training that does not require reading materials to answer the questions. Research has not yet documented the efficacy of online training for an adult population with minimal educational attainment. You can view the proposed rules at:http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Care/Child_Care_Standards_and_Regulations/comment.aspYou can submit your comments by Dec. 19 at MSC@dfps.state.tx.usPublic comments should include the following information: