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.
In June 2019, the Pardo family experienced arguably the worst day of their lives. After a physician falsely accused the parents of medical abuse, their developmentally challenged son Drake, 4, was taken away by Child Protective Services. The Pardos fought six months in court before being cleared of all charges, but the damage had been...
Kari Anne Roy, an Austin resident, had her 6-year-old son escorted home from playing outside by a woman she didn’t know. Her son was outside with his 8-year-old sister, less than 150 yards away from the house. The woman was concerned for the child’s safety in playing outside without an adult, and within a few...
Texas-born adoptee Shawna Hodgson spent a decade trying to learn more about her personal history. She spent more than on private searches, DNA testing, and court and legal fees in an attempt to access her own adoption records. Due to overly restrictive state laws, she failed. When an adoption is finalized, the state seals the...
At 12, Chloe was confused; at 13, she told her parents she believed she was a boy. Her parents took her to a doctor who put her on puberty blockers and testosterone to help her “transition.” At 15 — years before she would be allowed to get a tattoo or buy a drink — doctors cut...
Liberty Hamilton describes her time in foster care as “the most traumatic experience I ever had.” Her foster mother abused alcohol and drugs, she told a Texas Senate Committee on Monday. “She would always leave pipes lying around that she used to smoke,” she said. “She would party all night with loud music and random...
Texans were horrified to learn of the Department of Family and Protective Services’ mishandling of allegations that children in its care were sexually exploited at a shelter intended to protect victims of sex trafficking. In the weeks since the story made it clear that DFPS has broken its promise to children to take them to a place...
When Uvea was 9, Oregon’s foster care agency couldn’t find a placement in-state, so it sent her to Montana—to a poorly supervised facility where she was drugged, physically restrained and verbally abused by facility staff. “Can I say the two words she called me?” Uvea asked a lawmaker during a later legislative hearing. “They made...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—through its own missteps and unforced errors—lost the confidence of the American public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another agency, Child Protective Services, seems next in line for this inglorious achievement. In his State of the Union speech, President Joe Biden all but declared victory over COVID-19, touting new masking guidelines...
In what is becoming a sad tradition, U.S. District Court Judge Janis Jack again excoriated the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) for its failure to turn around the state’s beleaguered foster care system in a recent hearing. The status hearing focused on the state’s efforts to comply with remedial orders Judge Jack issued...
Democrats and Republicans are engaged in important debates about how the federal government can best serve families in these challenging economic times. There are no simple answers, but as we enter the holiday season, there is one thing on which we can all agree: Family is essential for achieving the best in our lives and...
The video is disturbing. A young man stands over a girl, his fists clenched, stomping on her as she screams for help that never comes. A caseworker with the Department of Family and Protective Services, which has custody of the children, stands nearby watching the abuse unfold, but never intervenes. As difficult as it is...
Tonight, an estimated 13 children will sleep on the floor of CPS offices throughout Texas. “Every day was uncertain,” one child who experienced it routinely told the Texas Tribune. “You don’t know where you’re going to lay your head — where you’re going to get your next plate of food.” The child described the experience...