The latest Department of Family and Protective Services news from The Texas Tribune.
Dr. Eithan Haim of Dallas had faced four counts for wrongfully disclosing the individually identifiable health information of underage patients at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. Full Story
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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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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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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 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
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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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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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
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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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