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...
March 2 was a big day for Texas. It marked, of course, the 184th anniversary of our independence. But it also began an important transition for some of the most vulnerable Texans — children in foster care. Since 2017, the state has been working to make its foster care system more responsive to the needs...
Advocates are attempting more and more to link the Austin homelessness crisis to Texas’ refusal to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. But the advocates’ proposal is a recipe for disaster that will cause further harm to our neighbors experiencing homelessness, and make it more difficult for the poor to access health care. The plan is...
The Pardo family’s nightmare is finally over. A Texas judge signed an order dismissing the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services’ (DFPS) case against the family, ending a nearly six-month ordeal. The case attracted statewide attention following the wrongful removal of Ashley and Daniel Pardo’s 4-year-old son, Drake, by DFPS based on a tenuous allegation of...
In the weeks since the Texas Department of Transportation began clearing homeless encampments that have become an unofficial and unwelcome symbol of life in Austin, the homelessness crisis has shown few signs of slowing down. A five-acre temporary campsite established by the state has seen little traffic while tents and makeshift shelters continue to pop up beneath overpasses almost...
The saga over systemic failures of the Texas foster care system continues with the state Department of Family and Protective Services paying a $150,000 fine levied by U.S. District Judge Janice Jack. Payment comes in the wake of a contentious hearing during which Judge Jack criticized the department for dragging its feet on implementing changes...
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had finalized new federal regulations governing the detention of migrant families who enter the country illegally. These regulations replace the Flores Settlement Agreement, a court agreement that has governed national policy for the detention of minor children for more than two decades, and preserve its substantive provisions protecting the...
A recent essay in Time Magazine called for a massive expansion of the nanny state through mandatory medical screening of children for signs of child abuse. The proposal, which is based on the assumption that racial bias is causing doctors to miss some cases of abuse, would strip doctors of the ability to apply reasoned,...