More on federalism. The United States has argued that Texas needs to reform its foster care system. Texas would prefer to not.
- Click on the article.
When U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack declared in 2015 that Texas foster kids were leaving state care more damaged than when they entered, it forced the state to confront decades of missteps.
After a yearlong trial for the lawsuit, which was filed in 2011, the Corpus Christi judge found Texas was violating the constitutional rights of foster children by exposing them to an “unreasonable risk of harm.” Caseworkers were carrying more than double the standard for caseload limits, children were being placed far from their home counties, and the state was not enforcing residential facilities’ compliance with licensing standards.
“Texas’s foster care system is broken, and it has been that way for decades,” Jack wrote in a damning 260-page ruling that landed like a bomb. “All the while, Texas’s … children have been shuttled throughout a system where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication, and instability are the norm.”
She put the foster care system under federal oversight and has spent more than seven years issuing order after order: Hire more caseworkers, stop placing children in unsafe settings, track child-on-child abuse. She appointed “special masters” — also called court monitors — to track the state’s compliance.
When it comes to foster care reform in Texas, the federal judge is holding most, if not all, of the cards. Her court hearings seeking progress updates on her orders have commanded political attention, pressuring the Department of Family and Protective Services and state lawmakers to fix the concerns Jack has raised. Initially, Texas’ top leaders resisted her demands. But after years of federal oversight, the state’s child welfare agency has started to implement the court-ordered reforms.
“When you look at how micromanaged a lot of this is, and how much time, energy and resources are spent, I feel like she is as much the commissioner of the agency as the commissioner is and has been for a while,” said state Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls.
Texas has spent $41.3 million on the court monitors alone. That’s in addition to fees to cover staff member’s and attorney’s time, transcription services and travel.
Terminology:
U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack foster kids
trial
lawsuit
violating the constitutional rights of foster children
“unreasonable risk of harm.” Caseworkers
residential facilities
licensing standards.
“Texas’s foster care system
damning 260-page ruling
federal oversight
Department of Family and Protective Services
state lawmakers
the state’s child welfare agency
started to implement the court-ordered reforms.
lead plaintiffs
contempt of court
tracking foster kids.
severe mental health and behavioral needs
advocacy group
Children’s Rights
state’s top leaders saw out-of-state actors overstepping their jurisdiction.
court’s injunction
federalism concerns
chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus
5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
what Jack could require
district and appellate courts
attorney general
Paul Yetter, the lead attorney in the suit
Texas was the “most resistant state that we had seen.”
Health and Human Services Commission
independent agencies
Abbott appoints
commissioners
state legislators
funding both agencies
writing laws about what they must do.
Texas House Human Services Committee
Court Appointed Special Advocates volunteer
Senate Bill 1896
SB 1896
Child Protective Services
Southern District of Texas by President Bill Clinton in 1993.
“senior status,” a state of semi-retirement for federal judges.
State Rep. Terry Meza, D-Irving
court monitors
