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Department of Family and Protective Services

The latest Department of Family and Protective Services news from The Texas Tribune.

  • In Travis County, Aging Foster Children Find Aid

    By Nathan Bernier, KUT News

    More than 16,000 children are in foster care in Texas. And when those children become adults, they’re often left to fend for themselves. But as Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports, the amount of help available to foster children in Travis County is on the rise. Full Story 

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  • Report: Psychiatric Drug Use Higher Among Foster Kids

    By Matt Largey, KUT News

    Children in foster care are several times more likely to be prescribed psychotropic drugs, according to a new Government Accountability Office report on five states. As Matt Largey of KUT News reports, investigators found high rates of potentially risky practices in Texas. Full Story 

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    Credit: Maria Kaloudi

  • House: Foster Kids Must Get Records Faster

    By Aziza Musa

    Responding to a Texas Tribune article about young adults who age out of foster care being denied their records, House lawmakers passed a bill today to require the prompt release of case files following a child's discharge from foster care. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • State Keeps Registry of Kids Who Abuse Kids

    By Emily Ramshaw

    “Dear future son,” the North Texas father wrote in a prospective adoption letter. “I am a single dad who adopted a middle school boy in 2008. Now we are looking for one more kid so he will have a brother.” Instead, the father got shocking news: He would not be allowed to adopt again because his son is on a state registry of people who abuse children. Full Story 

    James and his adoptive son wait to board the DART train in Dallas on January 30, 2011. The son, who is 15, is on a state registry of people who abuse children.
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • The Kids Aren't All Right

    By Matt Largey, KUT News

    The budget draft filed last week provided the first glimpse at the kind of deep cuts that state agencies could see in the next biennium. As Matt Largey of KUT News reports, advocates are particularly worried about what the final budget could hold for the agency that protects children from abuse and neglect. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • TribBlog: State Shuts Daystar Center

    By Emily Ramshaw, The Texas Tribune, and Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle

    The state has shut down Daystar Residential Inc. in Manvel, the facility where The Texas Tribune and the Houston Chronicle revealed that staff had forced young girls with disabilities to fight each other. Full Story 

    The Dystar Residential Inc. campus, in Manvel, photographed on Friday, June 4, 2010.
    Credit: Nick de la Torre / The Houston Chronicle

  • Memories Lost

    By Emily Ramshaw

    When foster kids bounce from placement to placement, they leave their belongings with state child welfare workers — where advocates say they often get misplaced, given to the wrong child or even stolen. Full Story 

    Crystal Martinez sits with items recovered from Child Protective Services at her home in North Austin, Dec. 21, 2010.
    Credit: Callie Richmond

  • A Death at Daystar

    By Emily Ramshaw, The Texas Tribune, and Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle

    The same Houston-area residential treatment center where staffers forced disabled girls to fight each other — prompting child welfare officials to halt admissions and hire a safety monitor — is now under fire for the asphyxiation of a 16-year-old boy who died Friday after a restraint was applied by a staffer in a closet. Full Story 

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    Credit: Nick de la Torre / The Houston Chronicle

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Ramsey on the fourth University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll (with insights into the statewide races, issues, the budget, and Texans' view of the national scene), Hamilton and Thevenot in Galveston on the anniversary of Hurricane Ike, Ramshaw on secret hearings that separate children from their guardians, Hu on what former state Rep. Bill Zedler did for doctor-donors who were under investigation, Aguilar on the troubles around Mexico's bicentennial, Galbraith talks coal and wind with the head of the Sierra Club, E. Smith interviews state Rep. Debbie Riddle about tourism babies and godless liberals, Grissom on why complaints about city jails go unaddressed, Philpott on the debate that will apparently never happen and Stiles continues to put the major-party gubernatorial candidates on the map: The best of our best from September 13 to 17, 2010. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Jacob Villanueva

  • Anne Heiligenstein: The TT Interview

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The commissioner of the state's Department of Family and Protective Services talked to the Tribune about the planned redesign of Texas' foster care system — one she hopes will keep kids close to home and connected to their siblings and reduce their time in state custody. Full Story 

    DFPS Commissioner Anne Heiligenstein
    Credit: Emily Ramshaw