The latest Child Protective Services news from The Texas Tribune.
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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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A Child Protective Services disability specialist says Texas’ foster care system isn’t preparing teens with cognitive disabilities and mental health challenges for adult life. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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.” Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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After a murder-suicide in 2018, a reporter spent years investigating Texas’ troubled foster care system. Too often, it prioritized terminating parental rights over keeping birth families intact. Full Story
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Bills that would give relative caregivers more money have missed key deadlines to make it in front of the full House. Full Story
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State and federal laws are supposed to protect foster youth until they turn 21. But Texas all too often erects unnecessarily burdensome hurdles. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
The Texas Tribune spoke with LGBTQ voters, the parents of queer youth and advocates from across the state about what’s at stake for them this November. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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