Blogs by Deborah K. Frontiera
Fighting CPS
11/10/2013 1:46:56 PM
Nov. 11, 2013
The purpose of this blog is to provide updates on some of the cases I reported in my book (Fighting CPS: Guilty Until Proven Innocent of Child Protective Services Charges ISBN 9-780-9800061-6-2) that had not been resolved when the book went to press, and to report other cases where CPS is not working up to par. I’d also like to hear about cases in which Child Protective Services did the right thing so those cases can serve as examples of what should be done. Occasionally, I will report helpful tips and web sites with advice on fighting CPS. To comment on this blog, or to tell your story, email Deborah Frontiera at frontiera.fightingcps.deborah.gmail.com
The next post will be on Nov. 25, 2013.
Another DUH Moment
In my last post, I talked about how little seemed to be accomplished as I observed the “goings on” in family court in Harris County. My observations confirm the contents of an earlier article in the Houston Chronicle: “Child Welfare Efforts Lag Here,” Sep. 11, 2013 (pgs. A-1 and A-9). I had clipped the article out and put it in my file “for later.” As often happens, it takes me a while to get back to that folder.
Here are a few highlights from the Houston Chronicle article:
5,900 kids in Harris County are in state custody six months longer than counterparts across the state.
Kids in Texas are in state custody an average of 22 months; in Harris Co. it’s 28 months.
25% of kids in Texas are in state custody longer than 2 years, but in Harris Co., but it’s 38% of kids who spend over 2 years in CPS custody. (T1’s case has been over 5 years!)
It costs $1800 a month for a child to be in paid foster care. (Do the math there; it adds up quickly.)
Harris Co. cases are spread among 12 court rooms. (No wonder I couldn’t hear T1’s case called.)
Caseworkers often find themselves needing to be in more than one court on the same day and time in multiple locations.
According to the Chronicle article, the report came as “no surprise” to Family Court Judge David Farr (and some others) who stated that he has some 2,200 cases pending at any one time, including 150 to 200 CPS cases.
The report to the state recommended that the Texas Legislature authorize caseworkers to “be on call when they have cases in court with dedicated CPS liaisons, unless a case is contested;” and that the state should authorize Harris County to create a new child abuse and neglect decision of district courts to hear all CPS cases.
On another front, US, District Judge Janis Jack of Corpus Christy handed down a decision to allow a class action law suit against the State of Texas to go forward. This suit charges the state “for failing to provide adequate care for children in the foster system.” It seeks more state resources to reduce caseloads among other things. Good luck with that one, since the State Legislature of Texas doesn’t even meet again until January of 2015!
What will happen in the mean time?
More of the same.
And kids will be the ones who suffer.
How about working with parents more before yanking their kids out of the home? How about actually doing a good job of investigating before removing kids so innocent families don’t continue to go through hell? That alone would hugely reduce case loads.
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