Foster system faces shortfall

Deficit could hit $40M for agency judge already deems ‘broken’

AUSTIN — An increase in the number of Texas kids with mental illnesses needing Child Protective Services has fueled an unexpected budget shortfall that soon could reach $40 million, adding to the state’s problems in fixing a foster care system a federal judge deemed “broken.”

John Specia, head of the state Department of Family and Protective Services, informed lawmakers of the shortfall Wednesday, saying it “was not anticipated” and would require a legislative response.

“There are different forecasts on what our records should be, what’s going to happen,” Specia said during a highly anticipated meeting of the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee. “The assumptions that were used to set the budget turned out to be not the correct assumptions.”

The disclosure marked yet another issue for the embattled Texas foster care system, which serves roughly 30,000 of the state’s most vulnerable residents.

Wednesday’s meeting came a few months after U.S. District Judge Janis Jack, of Corpus Christi, ruled late last year that the system does not serve its children properly and puts them at a high risk of harm, in part due to high turnover among caseworkers.

More recently, the meeting followed an unusual spate of departures of key agency leaders, a series of negative news stories about problems, such as children being forced to sleep in caseworker offices, and a high-profile homicide at the University of Texas at Austin in which the suspect recently had run away from a foster care placement.

Specia declined to comment about the UT homicide but offered an update about the court ruling, which is under appeal, saying that the state had begun paying more than $300 per hour for “special masters” appointed by Jack to evaluate the foster care system.

Lawmakers pressed Specia about a variety of issues, starting with the budget shortfall.

Specia noted that

children with “high needs” now make up 7 percent of the Texas foster care system, up from 5.5 percent in 2012.

As a result, he said, the agency in the spring of 2015 started paying for children to stay in psychiatric hospitals even after their medical needs had ended because the state could not find enough proper foster homes to house them. The number of children staying in psychiatric care past medical necessity tripled between February 2015 and February 2016, according to the agency.

Specia said that while psychiatric hospitals and other high-need treatment centers are necessary for some, the agency should be doing more to keep children from reaching the point where they need to enter such facilities.

“We want to do everything possibly we can to keep children from progressing to residential treatment centers and psychiatric hospitals because that does not bode well for their future,” Specia said. ‘A money issue’

The Department of Family and Protective Services likely will have to request more money to cover the shortfall, Specia said. The department’s Child Protective Services division now operates with a $1.4 billion budget, according to state records.

Later in the hearing, lawmakers grappled with an issue they have faced for years — high turnover among agency caseworkers.

The lawmakers and Specia agreed that part of the issue was rooted in high case loads for agency workers, but committee members disagreed about how to solve the problem.

State Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, said the state should hire more caseworkers.

“No matter where we find ourselves, and what we have to do to allocate the money, we need to hire more caseworkers,” Uresti said. “This is a priority that we need in place, period.”

Uresti also proposed raising caseworkers’ pay. Currently, first-year caseworkers get paid between $32,000 and $36,000 per year. It costs $54,000 to train each caseworker.

Republicans on the committee disputed the notion that extra money would solve the problem.

Committee Chairman Charles Schwertner, of Georgetown, said he had heard that caseworkers exiting the agency listed pay as only their third biggest reason for leaving.

“It’s going to be a money issue, but it’s not necessarily a more-money issue,” said Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock. “It’s where we put our money that’s going to fix this problem.” ‘Significant challenges’

Tyrone Obaseki, a foster care advocate for Angel Reach in Conroe, testified that the system is making problems worse for already struggling children.

“The problems you see today is due to young people being placed in an environment that is not conducive to their growth and development,” Obaseki said. “The only way to truly fix this system is by providing wrap-around services that lead to the success of young people, not to their detriment.”

Last year, the Texas legislature increased funding for CPS by $230 million, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said much work remains to be done to improve Texas’ foster care system.

“I charged the Senate Health and Human Services Committee with addressing child abuse and neglect within our state’s foster care system, improving services for children with complex health needs and strengthening adoptions,” Patrick said in a statement. “Today’s public hearing outlined the significant challenges that our foster care system faces.”