Legislators have made some sweeping changes in regards to state agencies that look after vulnerable kids removed from their homes.
Their main focus this session, however, has been reducing the number of kids entering state care, how child abuse investigators start and play out, making it harder for the Department of Family and Protective Services to remove children from homes, saying parents facing abuse accusations are entitled to more rights.
“We’re in a period in history right now where things are swinging very much towards having the smallest possible system, really prioritizing parents’ rights,” said Sarah Crockett, the director of public policy at foster kid advocacy group Texas CASA, in an interview with the Texas Tribune.
One large change is that the state abuse hotline will no longer accept anonymous tips against parents or caregivers, based on House Bill 63.
For Paluxy River Children’s Advocacy Center, this is a concern said Executive Director Margaret Cohenour.
However, she said, all reports will still remain confidential.
The new law, which will go into effect in September, is expected to lower the number of tips the child abuse hotline gets and reduce the number of parents entangled in a child abuse or neglect investigation.
“There are people who are not going to make the call,” Cohenour said.
With the ban on anonymous reports, Texas joins at least 19 other states that already require mandatory reporters like teachers and day care employees to provide their names and contact information, either at the time of the initial oral report or as part of a written report, according to the federal Children’s Bureau.
About 1,000 of the 12,473 anonymous reports made in 2022 led to findings of abuse, according to Texans Care for Children.
“I don’t want those kids missed,” Cohenour said. “If you see something, you have to make that call.”
As the new bill rolls into effect, education will be the name of the game as far as Paluxy River CAC is concerned. They, along with many other child advocacy organizations, will be expanding efforts to educate the public on why it is so necessary to still place child abuse calls.
Several other bills will also go into effect in September including House Bill 730.
Under the bill, caseworkers must notify parents accused of abuse of neglect of their legal rights including their right to an attorney or their right to refuse to answer questions.
The foster care system is adversarial to parents accused of abuse and neglect, particularly in how caseworkers approach investigations, Julia Hatcher, a family defense lawyer in Galveston, said. Caseworkers have aligned themselves with police officers in their interactions with families, Hatcher said.
“They show up and interrogate parents and they try to collect evidence like getting medical records, interviewing children, requiring drug tests, threatening them,” Hatcher said. “That’s what a cop does. … We’re saying, ‘OK, if you’re going to act like a police officer, we’re going to start treating you like one and now you’re going to have to give everybody their rights.’” Texas lawmakers have nodded to family preservation in prior sessions. In 2021, they passed House Bill 567 that barred DFPS from removing children in nonemergencies. The bill also established a new definition of neglect that prevented parents from losing their child solely because of marijuana use.
If a parent refuses to be interviewed by an investigator or denies an investigator entry to their home, the investigator can ask a judge for a court order requiring access. Under this year’s HB 730, DFPS will have to show probable cause, which requires more evidence than the current standard, to get that court order.
When DFPS investigators determine there’s enough evidence of abuse or neglect to remove a child from their family, the case then goes in front of a judge in court. Parents involved in DFPS cases at this stage are supposed to be appointed attorneys if they can’t afford one.
In conjunction, Senate Bill 2120 will require court-appointed attorneys who represent low-income parents to have certain qualifications.
This recommendation came from the Texas Judicial Council.
After this year’s legislative session, the state will have to meet more checkpoints for a judge to grant removal.
House Bill 1087 will require the investigators to clearly document all reasonable efforts they made to keep the child with the family in court affidavits.
Spears, an attorney who has represented kids and parents in DFPS cases, fears that children experiencing abuse will stay in their unsafe homes for longer.
“The failing in the laws is that the standard is so high now for a child to be removed,” she said, in an interview with the Texas Tribune.
Several positive things came out of the legislative session including House Bill 3765, which will require the state to provide every child a duffel bag or backpack once they have been removed from their homes.
It cruised through the legislative process. The reality of the state’s most vulnerable children receiving only trash bags for their belongings was so disturbing that it was approved by a landslide.
Many counties, including Erath and Hood, have a ‘Rainbow Room’ or a space full of donations that CPS can come to get supplies before removing a child from a home. This includes a duffel bag or backpack for the child. For Erath, it is housed in Granbury at the DFPS building, however Paluxy River handles gift cards for the clients at the Rainbow Room’s request.
“We have so many great workers and volunteers that contribute to the Rainbow Room,” DFPS Media Relations Director Marissa Gonzales said. “But it’s a good thing, especially for small rural counties that this is standardized in legislation.”
For foster kids about to age out of the system, Senate Bill 1379 directs the state to help them set up checking and savings bank accounts. The legislation aims to help kids in state custody establish financial security as they transition to adulthood.
When young adults formerly in foster care were eligible for federal pandemic relief money, many Texans could not access the stipend because they did not have bank accounts to deposit the checks.
“We know that bank accounts can be a barrier to even getting certain jobs. Because if you don’t have a bank account and you can’t get a direct deposit, they might not be set up to pay you,” Murphy, with Texans Care for Children, said, in an interview with the Texas Tribune.“This bill is really just to help fill that basic need.”
Though not a bill, Gonzales said the Texas legislature funded Texas Child-Centered Care (formerly called Foster Care Rate Modernization) this session, allowing for a big leap forward in the way DFPS pays for foster care services.
Instead of assigned levels of care, each child will have an individualized service package that more precisely meets their unique needs.
This includes clearly defined foster care models/service packages; new foster care rate methodology; a universal screening assessment and placement process to match children to the appropriate services and opportunities to enhance Title IV-E claiming of federal funds.
(Portions of this article reference reporting by The Texas Tribune.)