AGE EFFECTS ON PLACEMENT O cials in the Texas foster care system have pointed to age as an indicator of a child’s chances to be placed in CWOP and how long they will remain in CWOP. This data represents 2021 through September, the most recent data available.
CWOP: Child without placement status occurs when the state cannot nd a suitable, safe placement for a child, requiring Department of Family and Protective Services to provide temporary emergency care until a placement can be secured.
0-2 years old: 1 3-5 years old: 1
0-2 years old: 1 3-5 years old: 4 6-12 years old: 77 13-17 years old: 379
0-2 years old: 22 3-5 years old: 42 6-12 years old: 252 13-17 years old: 1,103
1-7 nights in CWOP
8-14 nights in CWOP
15-21 nights in CWOP
6-12 years old: 28 13-17 years old: 193
0-2 years old: 0 3-5 years old: 1
0-2 years old: 0 3-5 years old: 2 6-12 years old: 16 13-17 years old: 72
0-2 years old: 0 3-5 years old: 1 6-12 years old: 12 13-17 years old: 139
22-28 nights in CWOP
29-35 nights in CWOP
36+ nights in CWOP
6-12 years old: 23 13-17 years old: 126
SOURCE: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND PROTECTIVE SERVICES COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
uniformly leave state custody more damaged than when they entered.” DFPS o cials have attributed the increase to pandemic challenges, case- worker turnover and new regulations that were mandated after Texas lost a federal lawsuit in 2015. The lawsuit alleged youth in fos- ter care were often bounced between homes, had too little contact with over- worked caseworkers, and were not suf- ciently protected from abuse. Resulting system reforms included heightened monitoring, which is implemented when certain foster care system entities have had a high rate of standard and contract violations. Entities placed under heightened monitoring are given a plan by court monitors to address de ciencies and are subject to weekly visits to ensure compliance. Operations that fail to address issues within a year can have their licenses revoked, placements sus- pended or contracts terminated or face nes, according to DFPS. Since January 2020, 21 general resi- dential operations—facilities with 13 or more children—have been shut down or had their licenses revoked state- wide, leading to the loss of about 1,200 beds, according to a September court update. Moreover, several entities fac- ing heightened monitoring chose to close at the same time, resulting in the loss of 375 more beds and 157 homes. Rebecca Mercer, regional director of statewide adoption agency Lone- star Social Services, said heightened monitoring has also led to some foster
state to meet growing demands on the welfare system. Additionally, the department said it is lacking an ade- quate number of CPS caseworkers with 236 vacancies statewide. With these issues, Texas passed several pieces of legislation during the pandemic to address the needs. State Senate Bill 1896, passed inMay, revised and added regulations for the DFPS, including forbidding it from housing a child in an o ce overnight, expanding eligibility for therapeutic foster care and transitioning into elec- tronic case management. Additionally, the DFPS requested an additional $83.1 million as part of Sen- ate Bill 1 to hire 312 caseworkers, which the Legislature fully funded, according to the September CWOP report. House Bill 5, which passed in September, allotted an additional $90 million to the DFPS, which will be used to retain providers and increase capacity to serve foster youth. “The importance of this funding cannot be overstated,” said Melissa Lanford, the media specialist for DFPS Region 6. “It is the di erence between a real placement for these older chil- dren and continuing to live in a CPS o ce or hotel.”
parents removing themselves from the system altogether. “[Heightenedmonitoringhas] forced us to enforce stricter rules on our fos- ter parents, and they have de nitely felt the heat from that, which, in turn, turns foster parents away because it’s too stressful,” she said. She also said the pandemic hasmade nding placements more di cult. “We’ve had a lot of foster parents that will come to us and say, ‘Until COVID is over, we’re not interested in taking placements anymore because it’s just too much,’” she said. Arrow Child & Family Ministries, a Houston-area Christian nonpro t orga- nization, is a partner agency that pro- vides child welfare services to children and families throughout Region 6— which includesMissouri City and Sugar Land. O cials at Arrow said the area has followed state trends; plus, CPS is no longer licensing adoptive families in Region 6, leaving the burden of licens- ing, hosting informational meetings and training prospective parents on local agencies such as Arrow. “We are seeing an increase in [chal- lenges] with families to be able to stay compliant,” said Jennifer O’Brien, Arrow’s Regional Director over the Sugar Land o ce. “So, a lot of families just don’t want to do it with so much oversight and so many things that are required of them.” Searching for solutions The DFPS has identi ed a need for 669 additional beds throughout the
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victims of abuse and neglect through two nationally-a liated programs: Court Appointed Special Advocates and the Children’s Advocacy Center. According to Child Advocates of Fort Bend, CASA supports children in the foster care system by recruiting, train- ing and deploying advocates to sup- port children in courts. The advocacy center acts as a safe place for Child Pro- tective Services to bring victims. Ruthanne Me ord, CEO at Child Advocates of Fort Bend, said the num- ber of child abuse incidents increased during thepandemic. At the same time, she said placements became more lim- ited due to COVID-19 concerns and the closures of multiple nearby homes. “It’s not just our county,” she said. “Throughout the state, there have been a large number of children with- out placement.” DFPS o cials have attributed the increase to challenges associated with the ongoing pandemic, caseworker turnover and new regulations. “We’ve worked really hard to nd kids’ placements,” Me ord said. “It’s a continuing issue. It’s not solved yet.” Extenuating circumstances In an August CWOP report, DFPS o cials said the number of children designated as CWOP had risen, in part, because of heightened monitoring reg- ulations mandated after U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack ruled in 2015 that foster children in Texas “almost
In the September CWOP report, DFPS Commissioner Jaime Masters said many providers have cited height- ened monitoring as a reason for declin- ing a placement, although she noted that did not indicate the department’s disapproval of the mandate. “DFPS is not ‘blaming’ the [children COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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