Houston hospital pauses hormone therapy for transgender children as threats of child abuse investigations loom
Citing potential criminal penalties, Texas Children’s Hospital will no longer provide hormone therapy to transgender patients. Full Story
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![People hold signs in front of the Texas Capitol during a protest for transgender kids' rights on Tuesday, Mar. 1, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
Attorney General Ken Paxton appeals restraining order that blocked state agency from investigating trans teen’s family
A Texas judge was scheduled to consider a statewide injunction on investigations of parents over obtaining gender-affirming care. The appeal now puts the hearing on hold. Full Story
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![People gather in front of the Texas Capitol during a protest for transgender kids' rights in Austin on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
“From bad to worse”: U.S. judge deplores conditions for Texas foster kids sent out of state
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. 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.]()
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Analysis: Texas’ foster care problems are clear. The response from state leaders isn’t.
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. 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 -
Texas foster care children exposed to sexual abuse, given wrong medication and neglected in unlicensed placements, new report says
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. 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 foster care crisis worsens, with fast-growing numbers of children sleeping in offices, hotels, churches
Increased oversight and lack of funding mean hundreds of children spend their nights in hotels and churches and on office floors. Full Story
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![Prince Hayward outside of his apartment in Houston on May 23, 2021. Hayward, who grew up in the foster care system, now advocates for positive changes within the system.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Federal judge says she will again hold Texas in contempt of court for failing to meet foster care reforms
Federal Judge Janis Jack hammered state child welfare officials during a two-day hearing over what she called failures to improve Texas' foster care system. 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 -
After a teen's death, Texas cuts ties with a rural foster care facility, then gets a tongue-lashing from a federal judge
In the first day of a two-day hearing to evaluate progress the state has made toward resolving a long-running foster care lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Janis Jack excoriated Texas child welfare officials. 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 -
TribCast: COVID-19 record highs, foster children in harm's way and a victory for LGBTQ workers
On this week's TribCast, Alexa talks to Matthew, Emma and Shannon about record high coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, a damning report of Texas foster care and a Supreme Court ruling on protections for LGBTQ workers. Full Story
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![Patrons enjoy drinks at the interior bar at B.D. Riley's Irish Pub in Austin as Gov. Abbot allows bars to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.]()
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Analysis: For foster children in Texas, a state of despair
Texas isn't properly protecting the children in foster care, according to federal court monitors examining a system that's been dangerous to kids — in the view of the courts — for at least the last decade. Full Story
![The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services offices in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
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Out of sight, child abuse in Texas thought to be on the rise
Families are stuck at home, confronting stress and fear. And with many schools and day care centers shuttered, child welfare workers can't rely on teachers to help detect abuse. Full Story
![The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services offices in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Federal judge hammers Texas officials over failures to improve foster care system
An exasperated U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack found the state in contempt of court for failing to comply with some of her earlier orders in the wide-ranging lawsuit filed on behalf of Texas foster children. Full Story
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Texas child welfare chief Hank Whitman announces retirement
He championed staff pay raises in the three years he spent at the helm of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Full Story
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![Commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services, Hank Whitman during a March 22, 2018 Senate Committee on Health and Human services]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Analysis: To the relief of Texas lawmakers, voters just aren’t into state budgets
Most of what the state government does is spelled out in the budget Texas lawmakers write every two years. Lucky for them, most voters don't pay close attention to what's in that big stack of numbers. Full Story
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![Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announces his office has picked a private vendor to run the Texas Bullion Depository, which will be designed to store gold for both the state and private citizens, at the Capitol on June 14, 2017.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Federal appeals court finds Texas foster kids were endangered — but strikes down some attempts at reform
A 2011 lawsuit over Texas' beleaguered child welfare system has ping-ponged back and forth between an appeals court in New Orleans and a district court in Corpus Christi. Full Story
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![The John Minor Wisdom United States 5th Court of Appeals building in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Oct. 3, 2017.]()
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For girls in the Texas foster care system, teen pregnancy is 5 times more likely
A new report says current and former Texas foster youth face greater pregnancy risks and calls on the state to provide health care and education to at-risk teens. Full Story
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In Texas, you probably won't get welfare benefits — even if you qualify
Texas’ rolls of cash assistance recipients under its TANF program have steadily shrunk over the last two decades. Some experts say the bureaucracy guarding the state’s safety net makes it difficult to access those benefits, even for Texans who fit the requirements. Full Story
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![Betty Smith, who is the caretaker of 16 kids but was deemed ineligible for state aid, speaks at a Grand-Parent Support Group Inc. meeting in Houston on Oct. 19, 2017.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune -
Texas attorney general sues feds, seeks to help family adopt Native American 2-year-old
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the federal government over a law that seeks to keep Native American children from being separated from their families. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.]()
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How the crusade against sex trafficking left Texas kids behind
In this hour of Reveal, a public radio show and podcast, listeners will hear from the victims of sex trafficking left behind by the state. Full Story
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![Women "walk the track" on a stretch of Bissonnet Street in Houston. Pimps gather nearby in fast food and strip mall parking lots as potential johns circle and standard traffic passes through.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Hey, Texplainer: What did the Texas Legislature do to improve child welfare?
During the five-month session, lawmakers expressed determination to change how abused and neglected children are cared for. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott signs several bills reforming Child Protective Services in a ceremony with state legislators at the Department of Family and Protective Services headquarters on May 31, 2017.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune