Worker: CPS hit back in bias case

Agency denies race a factor in taking away child from parent

A Child Protective Services worker in Central Texas has alleged his bosses threatened retaliation after he formally accused officials of letting a black woman’s race influence the decision to take her 5-year-old son.

In two complaints filed last week with two separate agencies, special investigator Chris McMahan first accused a CPS supervisor of ordering the child’s removal without bothering to interview his mother or her boyfriend, and then accused officials of taunting him with the possibility of a transfer as soon as he told them he planned to complain about the perceived discrimination.

McMahan did not comment on the pair of filings, but CPS spokes

man Patrick Crimmins pushed back on the longtime investigator’s allegations.

“We take this accusation extremely seriously, and the steps we took in this investigation have been scrutinized over the last 24 hours with a critical eye,” he said. “We stand by the investigation and removal. There was not a whiff of discrimination present in the decisions that were made.”

The removal that started it all took place in early May, after a 5year-old Limestone County boy was found with bruising on his back and fluid in his ear, according to McMahan’s complaint obtained by the Chronicle. Doctors determined the fluid was likely from an infection, but the child said the bruises were from his mother’s boyfriend who had whipped him with a belt when his mother was away from the home.

At that point, a CPS supervisor made the decision to remove the child even though, according to McMahan, the boy said he had never told his mom, and workers had never interviewed either parent.

“In 14 years I have never had a decision made this fast,” McMahan wrote, “especially without speaking with the parents.”

Boy’s safety is priority

It’s not clear why McMahan believed race played a role in the decision to remove, as the concise complaint letter offers few details.

But, according to an agency spokesman, McMahan’s brief narrative, which doesn’t name the family involved, omits key elements of the case. Crimmins said workers did interview both parents before taking the child, and he also pointed out that ultimately a judge had to approve the removal in court.

“In this case, as in any removal, extreme abuse and/or neglect was present and the only consideration is the safety of that little boy,” Crimmins said. “The complaint acknowledges the boy was ‘whipped,’ but leaves out the graphic descriptions of his injuries.”

Aside from the first complaint — in the form of an open letter to the Department of Family and Protective Services, which includes CPS — McMahan also filed an employment discrimination claim with Texas Health and Human Services Commission, alleging that he’d been threatened with retaliation when he voiced his concerns about the case.

After voicing his concerns in late May and threatening to file a discrimination complaint against the supervisor behind the removal, McMahan says he was given a “directive” ordering him to keep quiet. Minutes later, his own supervisor questioned if he wanted to stay in his current placement or be transferred, then followed up with a message “scrutinizing a case of mine,” McMahan wrote.

Previous criticism

Health and Human Services Officials confirmed the commission’s Civil Rights Office is reviewing McMahan’s complaint. After determining whether the allegations are substantiated, the office could recommend corrective action, usually within 60 days.

This isn’t the first time in recent months the child protective agency has come under scrutiny for its decisions to remove children. Last year, the agency was slapped with a $127,000 sanction for wrongfully removing a Tomball couple’s children even after an outside medical expert said the boy’s injuries could be explained. Afterward parents Melissa and Dillon Bright went to court and won the recordhigh sanction, and then-Juvenile Court Judge Mike Schneider ordered the creation of a training program for workers and supervisors in the Houston region.

More recently, the agency fielded criticism for its handling of the case of Maleah Davis, a Harris County girl whose head injury in August was flagged as “possible physical abuse.” Though the agency removed Davis and her siblings at first, a judge approved the children’s return home in February. Then in May, the 4-year-old was reported missing, and her remains were later found in Arkansas.