State to hand over foster care services in Bexar County, 30 others

State officials announced Tuesday that they will relinquish major foster care services in Bexar County as well as 30 counties in the Abilene area to a nonprofit or local governmental entity.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services will issue a request for applications in the Abilene area this month and for Bexar County in November. Until then, it’s unclear when the formal transition will take place in those areas, according to agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins.

Senate Bill 11 signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in May decentralizes foster care case management, including caseworker visits, court-related duties and decision-making on where children live, learn and receive services.

Lawmakers made overhauling the state’s troubled child welfare system a priority during this year’s regular legislative session as Child Protective Services and the foster care system has come under scrutiny for child deaths, high caseworker turnover and a failure to visit endangered children within state-mandated time frames.

Author of SB 11, Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, has said the contracted foster care services, also called community-based foster care, will allow children to be better served in their local communities.

The state has piloted community-based foster care in the Fort Worth area, which state officials have said kept a high number of children in their communities, decreased the number of times children moved from home to home and increased the number of foster homes, particularly in rural areas.

Skeptics of privatizing foster care services, including several Austin Democrats in the Texas House, have said they are concerned that nonprofits who contract with the state might have interests that do not jibe with the best interests of foster children and that the community-based foster care plan was too hastily put together.

The Abilene area was supposed to pilot community-based foster care but efforts were suspended last year. Agency officials concluded that Frianita Wilson, a former purchasing employee, had a conflict of interest when her husband took a job with a nonprofit that tried to obtain a contract in the Abilene pilot. Wilson has denied any wrongdoing.