Blogs by Deborah K. Frontiera
Fighting CPS
5/8/2015 10:13:24 AM
May 8, 2015
The purpose of this blog has been 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
From an email source: quoting in its entirety for reader reference:
Child protection advocates,
As the 84th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature moves into its final month, TexProtects continues to fight for prevention investments and improvements to Child Protective Services.
Here’s an update on our bills’ movements:
House Bill 3014 - "Pay for Success," aka "Social Impact Bond" contracts (Rep. Tan Parker)
Our Pay for Success bill passed out of the House last week without a single “nay” vote. It was then sent to the Senate and referred to that chamber’s Business & Commerce Committee this Monday. This bill allows the state to enter into a Social Impact Bond (SIB) contract between the end of this year and January 2017. SIBs leverage government dollars with private funds to bring effective programs to scale. We encourage you to call the committee (512-463-0365) and request that Chairman Kevin Eltife schedule HB 3014 for a hearing as soon as possible!
For a more detailed explanation of SIBs, please find TexProtects' brief on the SIB here and more background on Pay-For-Success from our Pay for Success Convening here.
House Bill 3977 - Increasing the penalty for injury to a child
Thanks to those of you who called the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee last week, HB 3977 committee substitute unanimously passed out of committee and was sent to the Calendars Committee. We expect it to come to the House floor for debate soon.
HB 3977 increases the minimum penalty for child abuse fatalities and/or causing serious bodily injury to a child from five years imprisonment to 10 years imprisonment, if the action was committed "intentionally or knowingly." Also, the bill would remove eligibility for probation for such convictions. The bill does not remove the option of probation for accidental child abuse/neglect fatality deaths or reckless behavior deaths. (More on HB 3977 here.)
Senate Bill 949 / House Bill 4111 - Child Fatality Reports
These identical bills should improve the reporting of key facts regarding child fatalities in order to help prevent future child deaths. A committee substitute of the House version was passed out of the House Juvenile Justice & Family Issues committee today. The Senate version already passed the Senate and remains in that same House committee.
Our Budget Requests:
The differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget are still being negotiated in conference committee. We will update you as soon as an agreement is reached.
Texas Home Visiting Program (THVP) and Nurse Family Partnership Program (NFP)
• The Senate version of the 2016-17 budget bill contains an additional $5.4 million for NFP to account for a 2% inflation rate each year and to serve an additional 200 families.
• We are supportive of the Senate version, but we’re also pushing for another $10.75 million to expand the Texas home visiting program, which can work with families NFP cannot serve. Our state’s expenditure on this evidence-based and cost saving strategy currently can reach approximately only 5,720 of the 204,851 highest-need families.
• We encourage you to take action on this funding request – you can e-mail the budget conference committee members by going to http://www.congressweb.com/TexProtects/9 or call them by going to http://www.congressweb.com/TexProtects/8.
• In case you missed it: TexProtects founder and CEO Madeline McClure recently penned an op-ed sent out statewide in support of state investment in evidence-based family support home visiting programs – you may read it here.
Abusive Head Trauma evidence-based prevention programs
• We support the Senate budget appropriation for this item, which includes $2 million for the Safe Baby Campaign and up to $4.08 million for an evidence-based abusive head trauma prevention program. The abusive head trauma program we support begins educating parents before they are discharged from the birthing hospital.
• Abusive head trauma is caused by direct blows to the head, dropping, throwing or shaking a child and incidents are usually triggered by crying episodes in which the parent cannot console the child.
• Prevention programs educate parents on alternative ways to soothe a crying child and that it’s okay to put the child in a safe place and walk away.
Increased pay for CPS frontline caseworkers
• Low pay is among the many reasons that CPS has a high employee turnover rate. Turnover cost the state more than $72 million in 2013.
• On this issue, we support the provisions in the House version of the budget bill, which includes a salary supplement of up to $1,200 per month for caseworkers living in targeted areas with challenges such as high cost of living and high turnover. We’ve also developed a CPS caseworker salary adjustment formula based on cost of living differentials, competitive job market comparables and targeted turnover by stage of service. The department and legislators are considering utilizing our formula for future implementation.
Other updates on bills we are either actively pushing or support:
House Bill 2053 - “Colton’s Law”
We misidentified this last week as a Senate Bill. In fact, it is a House bill, and we apologize for the error. As we reported last week, it unanimously passed the House. On Monday, it was referred to the Senate Health & Human Services Committee.
Colton’s Law mandates that when CPS is searching for a child or family, the Department of Public Safety will be notified and brought in to investigate, and if DPS locates them, CPS will be notified. It also empowers officers to temporarily detain individuals listed in the search and take temporary custody of the child.
***
If you have any questions on these bills or other initiatives of TexProtects, please contact TexProtects Director of Public Policy, Pamela McPeters at Pamela.texprotects.org.
Thank you for your concern of our most vulnerable citizens.
Sincerely,
Madeline McClure, LCSW
Executive Director
TexProtects | The Texas Association for the Protection of Children
2904 Floyd St., Suite E
Dallas, TX 75204
214.442.1672 x674
214.770.7624 (cell)
Madeline.texprotects.org
www.texprotects.org
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