CPS took a Texas newborn for three weeks. Now the family is suing.
The lawsuit says the state investigated the family without a proper hearing and determined it had “reason to believe” that the parents engaged in medical neglect. Full Story
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![Heart Galleries, portraits of adoptable children, on display at the Child Protective Services office at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas politics leave transgender foster youth isolated — during and after life in state care
Support once afforded LGBTQ+ foster kids has vanished and a culture of silence has blanketed the agency tasked with raising children growing up in the system. Full Story
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![Isabella Morningstar asks Marcus Anthony, a case manager at Thrive Youth Center if they have received any updates on her new birth certificate. She looks over his shoulder as he navigates the shelter’s email for any information about Morningstar. She has had a difficult time updating her paperwork to her current legal name, since she left the foster care system.]()
Credit: Greta Díaz González Vázquez/The Texas Tribune -
One-third of Texas foster care caseworkers left their jobs last year as the agency continued putting kids in hotels
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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![A former DFPS employee's badge on April 6, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
Texas names new head of child abuse investigations after high turnover and heavy criticism
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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![The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) Council met and listened to testimony in Austin on March 10, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas child welfare agency fails vulnerable teens when they turn 18, whistleblower says
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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![Heart Galleries — portraits of adoptable children — on display at the Child Protective Services office at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
New Texas laws favor parents in child abuse investigations as legislators try to limit number of kids in foster care
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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![The sun sets behind the Texas Capitol in Austin on May 12, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Judge admonishes Texas foster care officials, saying they don’t properly monitor facilities housing kids
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 United States District Court in Corpus Christi, Texas on April 11, 2023. This courthouse is home to the Corpus Christi Division of the Southern District of Texas.]()
Credit: Blaine Young for The Texas Tribune -
After abuse accusations at The Refuge, Texas will create new reporting and screening requirements for foster care workers
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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![The Refuge in Bastrop on Apr. 12, 2022]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Federal judge says Texas’ use of psychotropic drugs puts foster kids at serious risk
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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![Heart Galleries, portraits of adoptable children, on display at the Child Protective Services office at Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate votes to close employment loophole after Refuge foster care scandal
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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![The Refuge in Bastrop on Apr. 12, 2022]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texans who take custody of their relatives’ kids struggle to make ends meet — and to get more aid from the state
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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![Beverly Morris says she was not aware that her six grandchildren were in foster care. When CPS called her, she decided to raise them herself but found that the foster care system pays grandparents much less than if she were an unrelated foster parent. Now a few years later, she is raising her six grandchildren at their home in Leander, Texas.]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribune -
Texas removed six Black children from their homes. Their adoptive parents drove them off a cliff.
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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![Clockwise: Devonte, Ciera, (group photo) and Jeremiah are seen in a CPS photo used for the Texas Adoption Resource Exchange (TERE)]()
Credit: Roxanna Asgarian/The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers move to close foster care hiring loopholes and expand rights of parents facing investigations
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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![A sign for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services building in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas foster kids struggle to access extended care once they turn 18
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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![Illustration of a person sitting on a bench at night.]()
Credit: Christine Ongjoco for The Imprint -
Texas should tell parents their rights when it investigates child abuse claims, lawmaker proposes
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
![Heart Galleries — portraits of adoptable children — on display at the Child Protective Services office at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Federal judge again threatens contempt-of-court fines for Texas’ slow progress on foster care reforms
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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![The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services offices in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
New Texas foster care report shows both improvements and continued deficiencies
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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![The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services building in Austin.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
After alleged sexual assault of two children living in state care, another foster shelter closes
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
![Heart Galleries, portraits of adoptable children, on display at the Child Protective Services office at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
In after-hours notice, Gov. Greg Abbott announces another leadership change for the Department of Family and Protective Services
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 Department of Family and Protective Services building in Austin.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
LGBTQ Texans voting with marriage, worker protections and trans rights in mind
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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![Thomas Smith, right, and his partner Kevin McCardle outside of the Polk County Courthouse building in Livingston on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. Smith has voted for mostly Republican candidates his entire life but will now be voting for Democrats this election as issues like women’s rights and same sex marriage are being scrutinized.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune