Judge threatens state over welfare inaction

U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack again threatened to hold the state’s child welfare agency in contempt of court for failing to comply with at least three of her orders.

The federal judge has twice held state officials in contempt of court before — first in November 2019 and later in September 2020. In 2019, she also fined the state $50,000 a day for three days. In recent court hearings, Jack has consistently threatened to levy “substantial fines.”

At the most recent court hearing, the judge admonished the state for not making children aware of their rights and for not taking adequate action over reports of abuse.

A court monitors’ report released earlier this month cited a survey that found youth in the state’s care know about the abuse hotline, the ombudsman program and the foster child bill of rights about 50 percent of time.

When the state argued against her initial order for giving kids access to phones, they told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that students are aware of all three resources.

The report notes that the state’s child welfare agency also did not take appropriate action to protect kids in about 58 percent of cases where the agency suspected maltreatment or abuse.

“Somebody is not getting the urgency of this,”

Jack said when threatening a contempt-of-court order at Friday’s hearing. “I know that you all say you understand the urgency, but this is just not happening.”

This case was first filed in 2011, and while the agency has moved toward compliance, she said it’s not enough.

Jack also blasted the state for continuing to have children without placement, when the state cannot find a suitable placement for that child, requiring the Department of Family and Protective Services to provide temporary emergency care until a placement can be secured. Children without placement are more likely to have complex behavioral and mental health needs. The average number of children without placement went from 80 children per night in 2021 to 60 children per night in 2022.

When she asked if the state could commit to having no children without placement by June, Associate Commissioner for Child Protective Services Erica Bañuelos could not say yes.

“I can commit that we will continue to put the same level of effort towards reducing those numbers,” Bañuelos said instead.

Jack first ruled in 2015 that Texas has violated the constitutional rights of foster children to be free from an unreasonable risk of harm, saying that children “often age out of care more damaged than when they entered.”

In more than a dozen orders, Jack has pressed the state to move toward timely investigations of abuse and neglect in foster homes, increased oversight of residential facilities that house children and improved communication between state agencies that oversee foster children and license their facilities.

Friday was the first court hearing with Stephanie Muth as DFPS commissioner.

Muth, a former Medicaid director at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, replaced Jaime Masters this month.

The hearing came after the release of the court monitors’ latest report. The monitors, who serve as watchdogs for the judge, did find significant improvements in DFPS’ investigations into residential child care centers over allegations of abuse. Among instances where DFPS did not find substantial evidence of abuse, neglect or exploitation, the monitors disagreed with about 4.9 percent of cases — a drop from 14 percent in the last reporting period. The monitors also found the caseloads for the large majority of caseworkers were carrying a standard caseload of 17 children.

The federal judge said the improvements demonstrate a “good-faith effort from the state.”