Throughout Mental Health Month in May, the Tribune is partnering with the Mental Health Channel and KLRU for a series focusing on some of Texas’ biggest challenges in providing mental health care.
Department of Family and Protective Services
Posted in
Health care
Bills Coming Due for State’s Troubled Foster Care System
Two special masters appointed by a federal judge to oversee reforms at the state’s troubled foster care system have started work, and the tab is running.
Posted in
Demographics
State Sued for Licensing Detention Center
A nonprofit organization has sued the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services for issuing a temporary child-care license to an immigration detention facility that hold women and children from Central America.
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Health care
Lawmakers Hear Litany of Foster Care Woes
The state’s child welfare agency faces a $40 million budget shortfall, a critical shortage of good homes for foster children and overwhelming caseloads for staff, agency leaders told state lawmakers at a hearing on Wednesday.
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Health care
Abbott Names New Leaders at Embattled Child Welfare Agency
At a time of heightened public scrutiny of Texas’ embattled child welfare agency, Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday appointed new leadership of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
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Health care
Caseworkers, Kids Trapped in Collapsing Foster System
The Texas foster care system has been throwing off increasingly desperate distress signals for months. It falls to caseworkers like 27-year-old Daniel Hernandez to try to keep it working.
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Health care
Foster Home Crunch Strands Children in Psychiatric Facilities
Abused children in Texas are being left in psychiatric facilities longer than they were six years ago as the state’s child protective services system grapples with federal court scrutiny and diminishing options.
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Health care
Emails Show Abbott’s Involvement at Child Welfare Agency
Six days after Gov. Greg Abbott took office, he faced the first death of a child under state care. Emails obtained by The Texas Tribune capture his staff’s efforts, and frustrations, trying to fix the state’s embattled foster care system.
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Health care
Courts Rebuff Texas Bid to Slow Foster Care Fixes
A federal appeals court on Monday rejected Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to block the appointment of special masters to oversee reforms in the state’s troubled foster care system.
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Health care
More Kids Sleeping in State Offices Amid Foster Shortage
The number of children sleeping in Child Protective Services offices shot up after an internal policy change at the agency limited child placements, according to state data released Thursday.
