Major child protective services reforms head to Gov. Abbott's desk

May 29--Major bills to address the state's troubled child welfare system are now headed for Gov. Greg Abbott's desk.

Both the House and the Senate on Sunday gave final approval on changes to Senate Bill 11 filed by Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, which would expand "community-based foster care" to at least two other areas in the state over the next two years. The state would have to transfer foster care case management, including caseworker visits, court-related duties and decision-making on where children live, learn and receive services, to a nonprofit agency or a governmental entity such as a county or municipality.

"We cannot continue to fund a statewide system that does not take into account individualized community supports, efforts and services and further traumatizes children by moving them from one side of the state to another away from their siblings, their family and their community that they know," said Schwertner.

Community-based foster care, also called foster care privatization, has been promoted to lawmakers this session as Child Protective Services and the foster care system come under the microscope for child deaths, high turnover and a failure to see endangered children within state-mandated time frames.

A federal judge last year ruled that a major part of the state's foster care system was unconstitutional and suggested that, in some cases, children were better off before they entered the state's care.

Gov. Greg Abbott included fixing foster care as one of his four priorities for the Legislature this session.

Skeptics of community-based foster care, including four of the six members of the Austin delegation in the Texas House, fear that nonprofits who contract with the state might have interests that do not jibe with the best interest of foster children.

Proponents of the community-based model say that a Fort Worth pilot program has kept a high number of children in their communities, decreased the number of times children moved from home to home and increased the number of foster homes, particularly in rural areas, according to the state child welfare agency.

SB 11 would also:

--Create standardized policies for child abuse and neglect investigations.

--Require the state to collect and monitor repeated reports of abuse or neglect involving the same child or by the same alleged perpetrator.

--Cover the costs of day care services for foster children.

--Ensure that the state child welfare agency collects data and creates a plan to address foster home shortages in regions where privatized foster care hasn't occurred.

--Creating pilot programs in two geographical areas for the privatization of family-based safety services, which help families who have been investigated for abuse.

Also on Sunday, both chambers approved House Bill 5 by Rep. James Frank, R-Wichitia Falls, which would make the Department of Family and Protective Services its own agency; currently it's housed under the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

However, some foster care advocates are concerned about an amendment that was slipped into HB 5 by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, that they say would give immunity from lawsuits to private entities that contract with the state to provide child welfare services. They wouldn't be held liable for property damage, personal injury or death unless due to gross negligence or intentional acts or omissions. Huffman said that the provision would encourage private entities to contract with the state.

Schwertner said that the language has been toned down so that nonprofits are offered the same immunity as charitable organizations in current law.

Last week, the Texas Legislature also advanced two other major foster care and child protection bills House Bills 4 and 7 to Abbott. HB 7 addresses the court proceedings that affect foster children and their biological parents and HB 4 would increase payments to people who foster children who are their family members.

The budget approved by the legislature on Saturday boosts funding to Child Protective Services by $500 million to give caseworkers raises and hire 500 new ones in an attempt to slow the alarmingly high turnover at the beleaguered agency.

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