Houston Chronicle

Foster children’s reps can’t use lawsuit funds to lobby

- By Andrea Ball and Cayla Harris andrea.ball@chron.com cayla.harris @express-news.net

Lawyers representi­ng foster children in a longrunnin­g federal lawsuit have been ordered to immediatel­y stop using funds awarded through the litigation to pay lobbyists they had hired to seek more money for the state’s child welfare system.

The lawyers will have to pay back that money, which came from a $6 million trust the pro bono attorneys set aside for the children in the lawsuit, according to an email that federal court-appointed monitors sent to parties in the case Thursday. U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack is presiding over the case.

The three lobbyists are paid a total of $20,000 a month, said Kelly Darby, a spokespers­on for the plaintiffs. It was not immediatel­y clear how much they have already been paid.

“The Judge directed us to advise the parties that she was not aware of reported lobbying efforts by plaintiffs on behalf of the children and those expenses are not an approved expenditur­e of the attorneys’ fees awards to the firms that have worked pro bono on this matter,” the monitors wrote in an email obtained by the Houston Chronicle. “Plaintiffs’ counsel advised the monitors today they will personally pay for these efforts.”

Paul Yetter, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, plans to repay that money out of his pocket, Darby said.

The directive came a day after the Dallas Morning News first published details of the arrangemen­t, which drew sharp rebukes from Republican­s who have already criticized the lawsuit as too timely and expensive.

“Apparently, the judge agrees that it is a bad look as well,” said state Rep. James Frank, a Wichita Falls Republican who chairs the House Human Services Committee. “I don’t think it changes the very obvious fact that a lot of people are making a lot of money continuing this lawsuit.”

The lobbyists had been directed to seek funding that would help the state meet the goals of the lawsuit, Darby said. That includes updating the state’s antiquated computer system and allocating more money for foster children living with relatives, she said.

“Our only priority is protecting these children,” Yetter said in a statement. “For the past 12 years, the Texas law firms have worked for free. We put every dollar of our fees into a trust fund to benefit the children.

“We had hoped to partner with the state agencies at the legislatur­e to get the funding needed for a safe system,” he added. “There are critical reforms waiting to be done, and all we hear from the state is, ‘We don’t have the money.’ We’d prefer for the state to work cooperativ­ely with us. But innocent children are still at risk.”

 ?? Todd Yates/Associated Press ?? U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack is presiding over a long-running federal lawsuit against the state over its embattled foster care system.
Todd Yates/Associated Press U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack is presiding over a long-running federal lawsuit against the state over its embattled foster care system.

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