Abbott to Foster Care Agency: Get Your Act Together | The Texas Tribune
In the wake of three child deaths under the state’s ward so far this year, Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday told the Department of Family and Protective Services to straighten up and fly right.
Abbott orders CPS to improve caregiver screening after child deaths – Houston Chronicle
AUSTIN — Saying he was “deeply concerned” about recent deaths of children under state supervision, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday ordered Child Protective Services to improve the screening of caregivers who temporarily take in kids whose parents are being investigated for child abuse or neglect.
The Forgotten Children Of The Foster Care System: Making A Case For The Professional Judgment Standard
Each year, thousands of children are separated from their families and placed into foster care.2 While under the not-so-careful watch of the state, many suffer further abuse and neglect.3 In some cases, child welfare employees are so derelict in their duties that they are unaware children are being harmed.
State Crackdown on Off-Label Antipsychotic Prescribing in Kids
With the dramatic increase during the past 2 decades in atypical antipsychotic medication prescriptions for youth, the majority of states have put Medicaid prior authorization policies in place for this patient population, new research suggests.
Lawmakers Try to Bring Order to Disastrously Lax Foster Care Training System – Texas Observer
This session, lawmakers are trying to fix one of the biggest gaps in the troubled foster care system: The training requirements for the majority of foster parents, kinship caregivers and adoptive parents are minimal, and the state doesn’t know how closely private placement agencies are adhering to the standards.
Texas foster care deaths addressed in house committee | KXAN.com
AUSTIN (KXAN) — More than a dozen Texas children have died in foster care in the past two years. A string of deaths in Central Texas helped highlight the lack of oversight and accountability the state has in protecting children. A bill by Representative Cindy Burkett, R-Sunnyvale, hopes to raise the standards of care. The House Committee on Human Services will hear HB 781 Monday.
KHN: Children in Foster Care Missing Checkups | The Texas Tribune
Nearly a third of children in foster care have missed required medical checkups, according to a Health and Human Services Department Office of the Inspector General report. The report looked at Texas as well as California, Illinois and New York, and found that 12 percent missed initial checkups and another 7 percent missed required periodic medical assessments.
Centene’s Texas Subsidiary Announces Successful Reprocurement of Foster Care Contract
ST. LOUIS, Feb. 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) today announced that its wholly-owned Texas subsidiary, Superior HealthPlan, has been tentatively recommended for a contract award by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to service STAR Health (Foster Care) Medicaid recipients.
Emails reveal how agency grappled with doctor abuse case, aftermath
Dr. Charles Fischer, a well-regarded doctor with a seemingly unblemished 20-year career at the psychiatric hospital, had been under investigation for more than five months by the Department of Family and Protective Services over accusations that he abused patients in his care. Now the agency’s report was in: Investigators believed that Fischer had sexually abused two teen boys at Austin State Hospital.
Psychiatric Drugs Side Effects
Common and well-documented side effects of psychiatric drugs include mania, psychosis, hallucinations, depersonalization, suicidal ideation, heart attack, stroke and sudden death. And that is a very partial list of the side effects documented by international drug regulatory agencies the world over.