Child Protective Services officials got an earful on Wednesday at a Senate hearing on improving the caseworker retention rates in rural communities. And they got a minor scolding from Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville.
Child Protective Services
Posted in
Demographics
Child Abuse Reports Up as Economy Falters
Experts speculate that a key factor in the increase in reports of child abuse and neglect is the struggling economy. The number of reported cases of abuse has grown 6 percent in Texas since 2008, before the recession.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Weekend Insider: Need for Foster Care, Family Accused of Murder
In this episode of Weekend Insider, Claire Cardona explains the rise in the state’s need for foster care, and Brandi Grissom introduces us to a family accused of murder.
Posted in
Politics
Child Welfare Commissioner Announces Retirement
Anne Heiligenstein, the commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services, is retiring from the agency after three years.
Posted in
Health care
Accused Wait Years, Face Backlog to Fight Abuse Registry
More than 2,000 people listed in a statewide database of people who mistreat children are caught in a backlog of cases waiting for appeals, many with their careers and families hanging in the balance.
Posted in
State Government
Demand for Court-Appointed Advocates on the Rise
Attorney General Greg Abbott and former first lady Laura Bush are leading an effort to recruit more court-appointed special advocates for foster kids. With 42,000 children in the system, Gretch Sanders of KUT News reports on the growing need for so-called CASA volunteers.
Posted in
Health care
State Keeps Registry of Kids Who Abuse Kids
“Dear future son,” the North Texas father wrote in a prospective adoption letter. “I am a single dad who adopted a middle school boy in 2008. Now we are looking for one more kid so he will have a brother.” Instead, the father got shocking news: He would not be allowed to adopt again because his son is on a state registry of people who abuse children.
Posted in
Politics
The Kids Aren’t All Right
The budget draft filed last week provided the first glimpse at the kind of deep cuts that state agencies could see in the next biennium. As Matt Largey of KUT News reports, advocates are particularly worried about what the final budget could hold for the agency that protects children from abuse and neglect.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Study: Courts Can Do Better With Foster Kids
The Texas judicial system can do a better job handling the cases of kids in long-term foster care, according to a study released today by Texas Appleseed.
Posted in
State Government
TribBlog: State Shuts Daystar Center
The state has shut down Daystar Residential Inc. in Manvel, the facility where The Texas Tribune and the Houston Chronicle revealed that staff had forced young girls with disabilities to fight each other.