‘You Get Tired:’ What the Retiring Leader of Texas’ Foster Care System Told Us
It’s been a turbulent year for the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). First there was the December court order by a federal judge in Corpus Christi – a sweeping and scathing order condemning what she called a “broken” foster care system, declaring it in violation of the Constitution and demanding a complete overhaul with a special master to be appointed to recommend fixes.
Courts Rebuff Texas Bid to Slow Foster Care Fixes
The state of Texas lost two intermediate battles Monday in its fight to block a federal judge’s efforts to reform a foster care system that she found has violated children’s civil rights by subjecting them to rampant neglect and abuse.
New report points to a path forward for Texas foster care
In December, a federal judge’s scathing ruling laid out the legal and moral case that Texas leaders must vastly improve the state’s foster care system to ensure children’s lives get better — not worse — when Child Protective Services removes them from unsafe homes.
Texas Caseworkers Call For Foster Care Reforms
Texas officials are fighting tooth and nail against court-ordered, potentially costly reforms to the state’s foster care system — a position that’s drawn fierce criticism from child welfare advocates.
Touring the Hellscape of Texas Foster Care
It was early July 2001, and Trish Virgil was going to make a lemon meringue pie. “In our family, 12 years old meant that you get to finally learn how to make homemade pies,” she says now, smiling.
The Foster Care System is Broken, But the State’s Fighting an Order to Fix It
The state’s track record for its Child Protective Services is a tumultuous one. A couple of months ago, a series of stories were circulating around a massive federal lawsuit filed against the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services, which oversees foster care, adoption and daycare licensing in Texas.
There’s Little Outrage For 12,000 Kids Suffering in the Texas Foster Care System
Houston police found the 16-year-old foster child in a park in early November 2013, just a few days after she ran away from a residential treatment center in northwest Houston.
Federal Judge Blasts Texas Foster Care System; Paxton Tries to Block Injunction
Last month a federal judge ordered Texas to clean up its foster care system. U.S. District Judge Janis Jack’s findings were scathing. She said that children in Texas’s long-term foster care have been subjected to “years of abuse [and] neglect.” She added that they had been systemically denied their civil rights,reports The Texas Tribune. In response, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has appealed the reforms ordered by the federal judge.
Abbott should call a special session to fix foster care
Finding that foster children are “shuttled through a system where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication, and instability are the norm,” a federal court recently ruled that Texans are violating the constitutional rights of our foster children by subjecting them to an unreasonable risk of harm. Gov. Abbott should boldly call a special legislative session to reform foster care and protect these children.
Federal Judge: Texas Foster Care System Violates Children’s Rights
It was early July 2001, and Trish Virgil was going to make a lemon meringue pie. “In our family, 12 years old meant that you get to finally learn how to make homemade pies,” she says now, smiling.