The upper chamber unanimously passed Senate Bill 182 after The Texas Tribune reported that a state-licensed foster care facility hired a caretaker whom the Texas Juvenile Justice Department previously fired for having inappropriate relationships with children.
Child Protective Services
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Foster Care in Texas
Texans who take custody of their relatives’ kids struggle to make ends meet — and to get more aid from the state
Relative caregivers, like grandparents who want to keep kids out of foster care, usually get half as much state assistance as strangers who take in children.
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Courts
Texas removed six Black children from their homes. Their adoptive parents drove them off a cliff.
After a murder-suicide in 2018, a reporter spent years investigating Texas’ troubled foster care system. Too often, it prioritized terminating parental rights over keeping birth families intact.
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State Government
Texas puts up barriers that keep young adults out of extended foster care programs designed to help them
State and federal laws are supposed to protect foster youth until they turn 21. But Texas all too often erects unnecessarily burdensome hurdles.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas should tell parents their rights when it investigates child abuse claims, lawmaker proposes
Most reports of child abuse or neglect turn out to be unfounded. But while under investigation, parents with little understanding of their rights or the process often make decisions that could impact the fate of their families.
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Foster Care in Texas
Federal judge again threatens contempt-of-court fines for Texas’ slow progress on foster care reforms
The judge warned the state could be held in contempt of court for not following through with three mandates: youths not knowing their rights, not adequately responding to abuse allegations and still having too many children without placement.
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State Government
New Texas foster care report shows both improvements and continued deficiencies
In a fifth report tracking the state’s efforts to remedy its embattled foster care system, federal monitors documented persistent risks to Texas children ahead of next week’s court hearing.
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Criminal Justice
After alleged sexual assault of two children living in state care, another foster shelter closes
Two girls in the care of Child Protective Services were allegedly sexually assaulted in October after sneaking out of a facility run by the state agency. Advocates say it’s a symptom of the Texas foster care systems’ problems.
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State Government
In after-hours notice, Gov. Greg Abbott announces another leadership change for the Department of Family and Protective Services
Former DFPS commissioner Anne Heiligenstein was tapped by Abbott in June to serve as the agency’s executive deputy commissioner. Last month, she was out. Now she’s back.
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Texas 2022 Elections
LGBTQ Texans voting with marriage, worker protections and trans rights in mind
The Texas Tribune spoke with LGBTQ voters, the parents of queer youth and advocates from across the state about what’s at stake for them this November.