5th Circuit Court orders federal judge removed from Texas foster care lawsuit
U.S. District Judge Janis Jack, the state’s de facto foster care czar, has been overseeing the case since 2011. Full Story
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![U.S. District Judge Janis Jack administers the U.S. oath of citizenship to more than 100 area residents representing 25 countries in 2008 aboard the USS Lexington. Jack was the first woman federal judge to serve in Texas south of San Antonio. July 5, 2008.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Todd Yates/Corpus Christi Caller-Times -
Texas sues Biden administration over requirement to provide LGBTQ+ youth foster placements
Placing LGBTQ+ foster children in more accepting homes would cost Texas too much money and resources, the lawsuit says. Full Story
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![Scenes from Austin Pride 2024 on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, on Congress Ave in Austin. The day-long celebration featured drag performances, booths and floats of Austin’s businesses and many Texans clad in rainbow.]()
Credit: Olivia Anderson/The Texas Tribune -
Appeals court to weigh reimposing fines for Texas foster care failures, removing judge on case
Texas Health and Human Services could face $100,000-per-day fines for violating a judge's orders. The state wants the judge off the case. Full Story
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![A caseworker's badge hangs off her neck as she prepares to assist on a case for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) in June 2018.]()
Credit: Pu Ying Huang for The Texas Tribune -
State’s move to bump federal judge from longtime foster care lawsuit caps years of battles
A federal judge has taken the Texas’ foster care system to task for 13 years. Reforms have been made. Now armed with private legal fire power, the state wants the judge off the case. Full Story
![U.S. District Judge Janis Jack administers the U.S. oath of citizenship to more than 100 area residents representing 25 countries in 2008 aboard the USS Lexington. Jack was the first woman federal judge to serve in Texas south of San Antonio. July 5, 2008.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Todd Yates/Corpus Christi Caller-Times -
Watch: Trans man who aged out of Texas foster care says politicians are vilifying LGBTQ+ kids
As Kayden Asher tumbled through several foster placements, Texas leaders intensified their efforts to regulate the lives of LGBTQ+ people. Full Story
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![Kayden Asher poses for a potrait on Nov. 19, 2023. Asher was placed under the care of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services at 15, after coming out as a trans man. He says he was discriminated against during his time in DFPS. Before his 18th birthday, he asked to be moved to Austin, where he found an affirming placement and was able to start hormone therapy.]()
Credit: Greta Díaz González Vázquez/The Texas Tribune -
Texas politics leave transgender foster youth isolated — during and after life in state care
Support once afforded LGBTQ+ foster kids has vanished and a culture of silence has blanketed the agency tasked with raising children growing up in the system. Full Story
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![Isabella Morningstar asks Marcus Anthony, a case manager at Thrive Youth Center if they have received any updates on her new birth certificate. She looks over his shoulder as he navigates the shelter’s email for any information about Morningstar. She has had a difficult time updating her paperwork to her current legal name, since she left the foster care system.]()
Credit: Greta Díaz González Vázquez/The Texas Tribune -
Appeals court blocks $100,000 daily fine for Texas’ troubled foster care program
Jack’s order to fine Texas Health and Human Services on Monday was the third time the state has been found in contempt over foster care conditions since 2011. Full Story
![U.S. District Judge Janis Jack administers the U.S. oath of citizenship to more than 100 area residents representing 25 countries in 2008 aboard the USS Lexington. Jack was the first woman federal judge to serve in Texas south of San Antonio. July 5, 2008.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Todd Yates/Corpus Christi Caller-Times -
Child welfare officials move to reduce Texas judge’s oversight of embattled foster system
The request to remove several court orders marks the first time the state has made any major attempt to get out from under an injunction issued in the 13-year-old case. Full Story
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![The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services offices in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Facing pressure from judge, Texas reassigns workers to care for foster kids in unlicensed homes
The move is designed to reduce some of the rotating overtime shifts expected of agency caseworkers at group homes and motels, which have been criticized as dangerous for the children who live there. Full Story
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![Photo of a the Department of Family and Protective Services children without placement (CWOP) home in Belton visited by court-appointed monitors checking on the living conditions of children in the care of the state.]()
Credit: Court-appointed foster care monitors -
Seattle Children’s Hospital sues Texas Attorney General over trans patient records
Suspecting the Washington-based hospital of providing gender-affirming care to Texas children, which is now banned in Texas, AG Ken Paxton issued investigative subpoenas demanding medical information. Full Story
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![A protester waves a transgender pride flag during a protest at the University of North Texas in Denton on March 23, 2022.]()
Credit: Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune -
Judge considers holding state in contempt a third time over foster care conditions
U.S. District Judge Janis Jack on Monday considers whether state’s foster care agency has made progress caring for most vulnerable children or should be held in contempt for the third time in an ongoing 2011 lawsuit. Full Story
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![Heart Galleries, portraits of adoptable children, on display at the Child Protective Services office at Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Sex trafficking, drugs and assault: Texas foster kids and caseworkers face chaos in rental houses and hotels
A report from Department of Family and Protective Services watchdogs paints a picture of a roughshod safety-net system that is unprepared to protect its youthful charges from predators and unable to keep them from endangering themselves. Full Story
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![Heart Galleries, portraits of adoptable children, on display at the Child Protective Services office at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
One-third of Texas foster care caseworkers left their jobs last year as the agency continued putting kids in hotels
The Department of Family and Protective Services has increasingly relied on housing foster kids in hotels when it can’t find them a home. In the 2022 fiscal year, after record staff turnover, more than 1 in 4 caseworkers had less than one year of experience. Full Story
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![A former DFPS employee's badge on April 6, 2022.]()
Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune -
For deaf children in Texas foster care, limited accessibility compounds trauma
Advocates say better accounting of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the state’s care and better access to translators are needed. Full Story
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![A sign for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services building in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas names new head of child abuse investigations after high turnover and heavy criticism
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ investigations division has seen record-high staff turnover, with 4 in 10 investigators leaving their jobs in 2022. Full Story
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![The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) Council met and listened to testimony in Austin on March 10, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas child welfare agency fails vulnerable teens when they turn 18, whistleblower says
A Child Protective Services disability specialist says Texas’ foster care system isn’t preparing teens with cognitive disabilities and mental health challenges for adult life. Full Story
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![Heart Galleries — portraits of adoptable children — on display at the Child Protective Services office at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
New Texas laws favor parents in child abuse investigations as legislators try to limit number of kids in foster care
Legislators also passed bills that will provide foster kids entering the troubled system with duffel bags or backpacks and those aging out of the system with help setting up bank accounts. Full Story
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![The sun sets behind the Texas Capitol in Austin on May 12, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Judge admonishes Texas foster care officials, saying they don’t properly monitor facilities housing kids
A U.S. district judge has long presided over a court case that found Texas’ foster care system unconstitutionally harms kids. Tuesday’s hearing was the first appearance by the state’s new team of defense attorneys. Full Story
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![The United States District Court in Corpus Christi, Texas on April 11, 2023. This courthouse is home to the Corpus Christi Division of the Southern District of Texas.]()
Credit: Blaine Young for The Texas Tribune -
Across Texas, a slow and sputtered rollout of foster care privatization
Lawmakers were assured that outsourcing management of foster care services would fix the state’s troubled child welfare agency. But the rollout of the new model, set to be completed by 2029, has been complicated by setbacks. Full Story
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![State Rep. James Frank R-Wichita Falls, answers a question from Rep. Armando Walle D-Houston regarding SB 11 on May 18, 2017]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
After abuse accusations at The Refuge, Texas will create new reporting and screening requirements for foster care workers
The legislation came after The Refuge, a Bastrop foster care facility, hired a caretaker without knowing she had a history of sexual misconduct with children at a state juvenile facility. Coworkers also concealed evidence of the abuse, which further put the foster girls at harm. Full Story
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![The Refuge in Bastrop on Apr. 12, 2022]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune