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.
Foster Care in Texas
The troubled Texas child welfare system that cares for vulnerable kids has been under federal oversight for more than seven years. “Foster children often age out of care more damaged than when they entered,” U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack wrote in a damning 2015 ruling. Yet the Department of Family and Protective Services — the state agency at the helm of the system — is still stumbling. Our reporters cover how fixes ordered by lawmakers, federal authorities and agency leaders are helping or hurting.
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Foster Care in Texas
Texas Rangers confirm investigation into nude photos of children at Bastrop shelter but find “no evidence” of sex abuse
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.”
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Transgender Texans
Judge temporarily blocks Texas investigations into families of trans kids
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.
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Foster Care in Texas
Texas’ child welfare agency ordered to investigate trans kids’ families has been in crisis for years
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.
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Foster Care in Texas
State-licensed shelter where sex trafficking victims were reportedly abused ordered to close
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.
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Foster Care in Texas
Kids in foster care who’d been victims of sex trafficking endured fresh abuse at a state shelter, report says
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.
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LGBTQ+ Texans
As Texas targets trans kids, their families scramble to find lawyers
Ever since Gov. Greg Abbott directed the state’s child welfare agency to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming care to their children, LGBTQ-affirming family lawyers statewide have been deluged with calls.
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LGBTQ+ Texans
Texas investigates parents of transgender teen, prompting the ACLU to sue
The ACLU suit looks to block Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services investigate parents seeking gender-affirming care for their transgender children.
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LGBTQ+ Texans
Transgender Texas kids are terrified after governor orders that parents be investigated for child abuse
Some experts doubt that classifying gender-affirming care as child abuse would hold up in court, but families still feel targeted by Gov. Greg Abbott’s new order
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Foster Care in Texas
Over 1,000 Texas foster children have been allowed to refuse COVID-19 vaccines, despite the state requiring other vaccinations
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.