Andrew C. Brown, J.D., is the director of the Center for Families and Children at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Brown has dedicated his career to serving vulnerable children and strengthening families through community-focused, liberty-minded solutions.
March 12 was the deadline to file bills at the Texas Legislature. For people who earn their livings in and around the Capitol, it’s a minor holiday. There’s a flurry of activity as staff work to finalize their boss’ legislative packages and lobbyists race to find sponsors for the remaining bills in their portfolios before...
Stories warning of a coming surge in child abuse have been a staple of local news reporting throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. For months, experts quoted in these reports issued dire predictions that severe instances of child abuse were poised to skyrocket due, in part, to the widespread move toward virtual schooling. The logic of these warnings followed...
The COVID-19 pandemic delivered a staggering blow to the U.S. economy, leaving millions of Americans unemployed. Low-income families were hit particularly hard and continue to struggle as the recovery rate for low-wage jobs lags behind that for high-wage jobs. Prolonged periods of unemployment for low-income families carry a number of risks, most notably an increased...
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Hispanics particularly hard. The reasons for this range from language barriers to higher rates of comorbidities. Combine this with another disturbing trend—4,200 children in New York alone have lost a parent to COVID-19, putting a quarter of them at risk of going into foster care—and a crisis is becoming clear....
Government-imposed lockdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted life and created uncertainty for all Americans. Particularly impacted are the parents of children in foster care, many of whom face the very real threat of losing their children forever due to strict legal timelines governing child welfare cases. Consider Alexis, a domestic violence survivor in...
As election day approaches, the polarization of our political climate has been on full display. It’s easy to fall victim to the temptation to lose hope that our increasingly divided electorate will ever be able to reach consensus on many of the most challenging issues faced by our nation. Yet, as Americans, we are united...
It now looks unlikely that Austinites will get to make their voices heard this November in the controversy over the city’s homelessness policies. The Austin city clerk recently rejected a petition that would have allowed voters to reinstate the camping ban the City Council dismantled last year. Save Austin Now, a nonprofit that supported bringing back the...
Monitors appointed by a federal judge in connection with an ongoing lawsuit over dangerous conditions in the Texas child welfare system released a new report on the state’s progress in reforming the system. The 363-page report recounts the apparent failure of the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to make the structural and operational...
A salon owner in Oregon claims that representatives from Child Protective Services showed up at her home shortly after she “illegally” reopened her business in violation of the governor’s coronavirus stay-at-home order. The salon owner, Lindsey Graham, was fined $14,000 and says she believes the investigation was retaliation for reopening without authorization. At a press conference Friday, Graham...
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed major flaws in our nation’s child welfare system. Across the country, in-person visits between parents and children were cancelled, reunifications of families were postponed, and children entered care with nowhere to go as foster families had second thoughts about taking in a child who may have been exposed to the virus. As a...
Next week, the Supreme Court of Texas will hear the case of a father seeking to vindicate his fundamental rights from being forced to share custody of his daughter with her mother’s former boyfriend. This case, known as In Re C.J.C., has profound implications for all Texas families. It centers on a provision of Texas custody law that...
As cases of coronavirus rise, local governments are making hard decisions about which functions are essential to maintain during the crisis. Many counties are choosing to postpone hearings in which important decisions about reuniting children in foster care with their families are made — effectively delaying their return home. Such decisions are revealing about our...