CPS-foster care overhaul bill advances to full Senate
The measure requires children entering foster care to be examined by health professionals within three days and undergo full evaluations within a month.
AUSTIN – Children entering the state’s foster care system would have to be examined by a health professional within 72 hours and then be given a thorough evaluation within 30 days if a bill sent to the full Senate on Wednesday is passed into law.
The measure, Senate Bill 11, is on the legislative fast track because of highly publicized lapses in the Child Protective Services that saw thousands of children at risk of abuse and neglect fall through the state’s social safety net in recent years. It won unanimous approval in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and could be sent to the full chamber for a vote next week.
“Today's vote was an important first step in improving the lives of our state's foster children and ensuring that all children in Texas are kept safe from abuse and neglect,” said state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, the bill’s author who has gained the support of more than half of the chamber’s 31 members.
“This isn't a Republican issue or a Democratic issue, it's a Texas issue,” said state Sen. Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat who is among the bill’s co-authors. “Every legislator in this building understands how important it is to fix the gaps in our foster care system and I hope we continue to see a united effort to protect the children of Texas.”
Schwertner’s legislation, filed before the 2017 legislative session began and modified slightly during the past week, would cost the state just over $3 million during the upcoming budget cycle. But the item is part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s list of emergency items, meaning it is eligible for early passage. And state leaders have already committed to spending several million dollars to recruit and retain CPS workers for the high-stress caseworker jobs long plagued by high turnover rates.
The measure also contains the framework for CPS to partner with nonprofit organizations on pilot programs to help place children bound for the foster care system with family members. It also directs agency leaders to take a close look at “work with foster care providers, faith-based communities, and advocate groups to develop comprehensive plans for increasing foster care capacity,” according to an explanation of the bill provided by Schwertner’s office.
Also, the bill would assign investigations into allegations of child abuse and neglect at foster homes and residential treatment centers to the CPS Investigations division. It would also require that investigators have face-to-face contact with victims within 72 hours instead of the current practice that extends the time period to up to five days.
Similar legislation is awaiting action in the House.
In December 2015, U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack of Corpus Christi ruled children in the Texas foster care program were being denied their civil rights because of “years of abuse, neglect and shuttling between inappropriate placements across the state has created a population that cannot contribute to society, and proves a continued strain on the government through welfare, incarceration or otherwise.”
Jack ordered the state to implement reforms that included hiring more case workers and bringing caseloads down to manageable levels. And she appointed a special master to oversee the system.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has appealed the order, calling it “over-broad.” On Wednesday, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus called on Paxton to withdraw his appeals, pointing out Abbott and GOP legislative leaders are working alongside Democrats to correct the deficiencies in the agency.
“There is bipartisan consensus in the Legislature that serious and immediate reforms are needed in Child Protective Services and the foster care system,” Rep. Chris Turner of Arlington said in a letter to Paxton. “Your actions do not contribute to this effort; in fact, they distract from it.”
Paxton's office was reviewing the letter as of Wednesday afternoon.