Foster care chief admits ‘failing children’
Trouble placing kids grown more acute
Nearly 400 Texas children — many with serious mental, behavioral or physical problems — spent at least one night in the care of the state without a place to stay last month, often sleeping in motels or in office buildings.
The steep rise in displaced children — in August 2020 there were 47 — meant more and more of them were looked after by caseworkers whose training amounted to as little as a 60-minute video on how to care for troubled kids, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Jaime Masters acknowledged to a federal judge Tuesday morning.
Many of the children were abused while in the care of the state and had been in foster care for years, Masters said, and she had heard reports that some children had engaged in prostitution in the offices of caseworkers who were supposed to be protecting them. Almost a third — 31 percent — of the children in temporary placements were from Bexar or Harris counties, the report said.
Masters also acknowledged that the caseworkers “are not adequate” for the tasks they’re as
signed.
“I do feel like I am failing children,” Masters said, as a lawyer quizzed her on the depths of the problems.
U.S. District Judge Janis Jack retorted: “I think we’ve got a clear record that you don’t think these children you’re stuffing into hotels and offices should be placed in a position where they’re free from increased risk of harm. I think we’re all clear on that.
“Your days of looking the other way while children are warehoused, raped and abused, and fed psychotropic drugs are done,” said the judge, who resolved Tuesday to ask Gov. Greg Abbott what he intends to do about it.
Tuesday’s hearing before Jack was the latest development as the state struggles to implement reforms Jack has ordered as she presides over a 2011 class-action lawsuit against Family and Protective Services alleging that children were held in unsafe conditions. Jack also heard Tuesday from monitors who are charged with overseeing the state’s efforts.
A court monitors’ report filed Monday explores the standard of care for children in temporary housing, finding incidents of childon-child sexual abuse, children being overmedicated, children not getting their prescribed medication, being unnecessarily physically restrained and meeting sex traffickers at state office buildings and then leaving with them.
The problem finding placements for foster children has grown more acute during the pandemic, as the state closed several foster facilities under pressure from the judge. The number of foster children without a place to stay nearly doubled from August to September of 2020, from 47 to 87, then shot upward throughout the year and has hovered around 400 since June.
Masters defended the decision to close those facilities, saying they were unsafe for decades. She said she doesn’t regret the closure of a single one. Among them was Family Tapestry in San Antonio, which faced allegations of mismanagement and abuse and lost its contract with the state.
Yet those closures meant the state lacked placements for hundreds of additional children because new facilities were not opened. The state took over placement for Bexar County foster kids beginning in April, and the courtordered report found that more of the foster children without placements came from Bexar County than any other in Texas.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Paul Yetter, the lead attorney in the case against the state. “The safety of these children is our top priority, and right now everyone agrees that they are in dangerous, harmful placements. The prospect of working together on a real solution, especially with the blessing of the governor, is the best path forward.
I look forward to getting started as soon as possible.”
A lawyer asked Masters if the state failed to plan ahead to anticipate the needs of children, causing the current problem.
“It would appear so,” Masters said.
The state issued its own report responding to the court monitors, saying the lapses in temporary care are “the exception to the rule. There is nothing normal about it and it cannot continue in its current state.” The Legislature has allocated an additional $90 million this summer to help foster care children with specialized behavioral, emotional or physical needs.
Now Texas is increasing its foster care capacity by shipping hundreds of its own foster care kids out to other states, particularly states that have chosen to accept federal Medicaid dollars and use them to bolster their foster care programs, Masters said.
The Republican-led Texas Legislature has resisted expanding Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. Lawmakers say the program is not financially sustainable and could leave Texas to foot a massive bill down the road.
Tuesday’s hearing finished early in the afternoon, with Jack saying her focus has shifted away from sanctioning the state. In 2019, Jack leveled $50,000 daily fines for every day that foster care group homes went without 24-hour supervision.
She said Tuesday that she now wants to coordinate with the plaintiffs and the state to find solutions to the problems with Texas’ foster care system immediately. She asked a lawyer for Abbott to find out what the governor is willing to do to address it, saying she wanted his “blessing” before proceeding.
A spokeswoman for Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.