Though reforms have improved the state’s health care system for foster children, child welfare advocates say, the rate of foster children prescribed psychotropic drugs remains high.
Department of Family and Protective Services
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Health care
State Must Alert Parents in Person When Seeking Child Custody
Texas’ high court has ruled that state officials must personally notify parents when suing to deprive them of custody of their children.
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Health care
Updated: Lawsuit Can’t Cover All Kids in Long-Term Foster Care
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the national child advocacy group Children’s Rights cannot file its class-action suit on behalf of all 12,000 youth in Texas’ long-term foster care system.
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Health care
Senate Committee Tackles Rural Child Welfare
Child Protective Services officials got an earful on Wednesday at a Senate hearing on improving the caseworker retention rates in rural communities. And they got a minor scolding from Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville.
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Health care
In Travis County, Aging Foster Children Find Aid
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.
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Health care
Report: Psychiatric Drug Use Higher Among Foster Kids
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.
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Demographics
Child Abuse Reports Up as Economy Falters
Experts speculate that a key factor in the increase in reports of child abuse and neglect is the struggling economy. The number of reported cases of abuse has grown 6 percent in Texas since 2008, before the recession.
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Criminal Justice
Weekend Insider: Need for Foster Care, Family Accused of Murder
In this episode of Weekend Insider, Claire Cardona explains the rise in the state’s need for foster care, and Brandi Grissom introduces us to a family accused of murder.
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Politics
Child Welfare Commissioner Announces Retirement
Anne Heiligenstein, the commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services, is retiring from the agency after three years.
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Health care
Accused Wait Years, Face Backlog to Fight Abuse Registry
More than 2,000 people listed in a statewide database of people who mistreat children are caught in a backlog of cases waiting for appeals, many with their careers and families hanging in the balance.
