• All functions of Child Protective Services
• Functions, programs, activities of Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (abuse and neglect related issues)
• All functions of adult protective services
• All activities related to regulating child-care facilities and child-placing agencies
• Receive and catalog complaints
• Services to At-Risk Youth program from Dept. of Human Services
• Maternity home regulation from DHS
• All functions of Youth Care Investigations from Health and Human Services Commission
• Investigations in community MHMR centers

James R. Hine, Executive Director of PRS, establishes Division of Management Analysis within PRS to assist with a detailed reorganization and agency improvement effort. Recommendations of Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, the State Auditor’s Office and other were considered during this time. According to Hines, there was a need for increased central policy, direction, and control. They also needed to focus on improved data entry for budgetary reasons and performance reporting. They instituted “toll gate” meetings between the executive director and each of his divisions over “layers of control.”

Definitions: http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Documents/about/Data_Books_and_Annual_Reports/2001/databook/pdf/099_101FY01.pdf

Under House Bill 2292 of the 78th Legislative session, the Department of Family Protective Services was created. It was a major reorganization of the Texas Health and Human Services Department. The goal was to give families greater access to services. “Our staff will continue to serve Texas by protecting the most vulnerable of our population – children, people with disabilities and the elderly,” commissioner of the department Thomas Chapmond said. The department took the place the previously administered programs of the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services. During the creation, they piloted a program to move kids out of foster care and into relative placements by giving money to relatives. They also implemented a foster care home recruitment program for faith-based community.

• Implement a foster home recruitment program involving the faith-based community.
• Pilot a program to move more children out of foster care into relative placements by providing financial support and additional service services to qualified kin caregivers.
• Collaborate with other agencies in the health and human services system to ensure that services to families are coordinated.
• Expand the availability of home-based foster family care to children with intense needs.

• Texas State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn issues report called, "Forgotten Children: A Special Report on the Texas Foster Care System." In the report she asks governor to create a Family and Protective Services Crisis Management Team.
• "This report gives these children something they need -- a voice," Strayhorn said. "This investigation turned this One Tough Grandma into One Heartbroken Grandma."
• Strayhorn said some of the kids in the foster care system are no better off than if they were in the hands of abusive, negligent parents.

• Eliminate the inefficient dual system of foster care -- one that is run by the state creating a conflict of interest in which the agency regulates itself.
• Direct and redirect $193.9 million in savings to better care for children by replacing state caseworkers with independent oversight enforcement staff.
• Move, immediately, children out of all therapeutic camps that do not meet licensing standards for Permanent Therapeutic Camps.
• Raise standards across the board to humane levels.
• Revoke the licenses of facilities that have ongoing problems affecting the health, safety and well being of children.
• Educate foster care children about free higher education tuition eligibility.
• Develop a Foster Grandma and Foster Grandpa program to mentor and support the children.

• Conduct review of case files
• Review administrative practices and organizational structure
• Partner with law enforcement & local communities
• Conduct review of state laws and policies

• Reduce caseloads
• Maintain a well-trained workforce
• Retain experienced staff
• Ensure compliance with CPS policies and procedures
• Develop effective community partnerships
• Ensure child centered outcomes

• The report stated that the state should review the licensure requirements for, and the performance, of all types of foster care facilities, including residential treatment facilities, wilderness camps and emergency treatment centers.
• Assess the adequacy of communication and interaction between the licensing agency and other state agencies that place children within the foster care and Child Protective Care system.
• The State should eliminate the dual system in which DFPS not only provides foster care and case management services, but also regulates and provides oversight of those services.

• The Committee recommends that HHSC develop a new structural model based on outcomes, to deliver foster care and adoption services. HHSC staff shall report to the Joint Committee, the Legislative Budget Board, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Speaker and Legislature within six months, the details of the new structural model for delivering community-based child and family services. The new model should be developed and finalized through a joint effort of DFPS, HHSC, and private sector agencies, including representatives from their Boards of Directors.
• All foster homes certified by DFPS should be transferred to and operated by private child placing agencies (CPA).

• The responsibility for delivering services to the families of children who enter foster care, or are at-risk of entering the foster care system should be delivered by licensed private agencies which have the capacity, experience and expertise to handle case management efficiently. The transition of delivery of family services shall begin in the first region of full child welfare restructuring and continue as an integral part of the restructuring as it rolls out across the state according to the transition plan.
• The Committee recommends the Joint Committee utilize in their oversight and recommendations on the transition from the dual system to a privatized foster care system is the information provided by the Promising Practices Network (PPN).

• Foster care as a "cottage industry" in rural towns across Texas must be addressed.

• The problems within the foster care system and at the DFPS have been spelled out across the state time and time again. The major issues and shortcomings of the DFPS are well documented. We know that there are major concerns with many of the policies and procedures of DFPS, and we also realize that the system as a whole has very serious issues that merit the State's attention. Based on our hearings and meetings, reports from other state agencies and the media, we all know and accept the facts that the system is broken, and that the system needs to be fixed.
• With that being said, it is absolutely critical that we, as a state, move forward and start analyzing and implementing innovative solutions.
• The children of this state that are abused and neglected, and ultimately end up in the State's care need to be assured that they will be safe, provided with an education, and given the guidance to succeed upon leaving the foster care system. The foster care system must be held to a higher standard; the foster children in this state deserve to know that they are not forgotten, nor will they ever be.

“Today Texas is taking a significant step to restore hope to our most vulnerable citizens by mending our protective services safety net for children and adults at risk for abuse or neglect,” Perry said. “I am proud to sign Senate Bill 6 into law because it will put thousands of new protective service workers on the job who will be better trained, better compensated and better focused on the primary mission of protecting the vulnerable.”

During his announcement, Perry noted that CPS salaries would go up and caseloads would go down by 40 percent. He also said, the amount of time spent on paperwork will be slashed by 58 percent and investigators will be free to spend 38 percent more time with children and families.

Senator Jane Nelson, of Lewisville, Texas filed Senate Bill 6, Protection Act for Children and Adults, for review during the 79th Legislature.

"Reading the newspaper of late has been like reading a horror novel with case after case of child abuse, seniors living in deplorable conditions and foster children as young as three years old being placed on adult psychiatric drugs," Nelson said. "This legislation provides much-needed cohesiveness among Texas' network of defenders for our most vulnerable citizens. CPS cannot do it alone, and this bill ensures that they have plenty of backup."

Senator Jane Nelson, of Lewisville, Texas filed Senate Bill 6, Protection Act for Children and Adults, for review during the 79th Legislature.

"Reading the newspaper of late has been like reading a horror novel with case after case of child abuse, seniors living in deplorable conditions and foster children as young as three years old being placed on adult psychiatric drugs," Nelson said. "This legislation provides much-needed cohesiveness among Texas' network of defenders for our most vulnerable citizens. CPS cannot do it alone, and this bill ensures that they have plenty of backup."

• Improve technology and require law enforcement-style training for CPS.
• Give law enforcement a leading role and require CPS and law enforcement to co-locate in counties of 75,000 population or greater.
• Enhance prevention and early intervention efforts by partnering with Child Advocacy Centers, community and faith-based services.
• Reiterate legislative intent that cases must be resolved within 12 months.
• Plan to hire 2,500 new CPS workers and start SI Program.
• Add $250 million to CPS budget.
  
  

• Contract all foster home recruitment and management, along with adoptive home recruitment services and case management for children in permanent managing conservatorship.
• Quarterly performance measures for safety, permanency, and well-being.
• Performance measures for foster family recruitment and retention.
• Collaborate with faith-based and community organizations, and utilize foster grandparent programs.
• Require foster care providers to undergo drug testing and criminal background checks, including a review of registries in other states.
• Clarify the individual authorized to provide informed consent for psychotropic medications for foster children.
• Use multi-disciplinary teams to review certain cases in which foster children are receiving three or more psychotropic medications.

CPS hired 431 Special Investigators in 2005. These investigators were charged with the responsibility to assign reports of abuse or neglect in DFCS homes, private agency and state operated homes, residential facilities, public and private non-residential schools.

"In October 2004, I urged Gov. Perry to immediately create a Family and Protective Services Crisis Management Team by executive order to finally take serious steps to save children's lives. Now it is June 2006. Gov. Perry's failure to act is unconscionable. In November 2004, I launched an investigation into possible Medicaid prescription drug fraud and abuse in our state's foster care system. I am here today to release disturbing information found during my investigation about the deaths, poisonings, rapes and pregnancies of children in our state's foster care system. I found, from information provided by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services:

• in Fiscal 2003, 30 foster children died in our state's care
• in Fiscal 2004, 38 foster children died in our state's care
• in Fiscal 2005, 48 foster children died in our state's care

If you compare the number of deaths of children in our state's population to the number of deaths in our state's foster care system, a child is four times more likely to die in our state's foster care system," Strayhorn said.

Senator Jane Nelson introduce Senate Bill 758. It calls for the hiring of more caseworkers, a quicker response to reports of abuse, and the formation of a pilot program that privatizes 10% of case management. The pilot program was never funded.

Senate Bill 758 amends the Education Code, Family Code, Government Code, and Human Resources Code to refine a number of reforms made to children's protective services by the 79th Legislature. It requires the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to develop a child protective services improvement plan to expand or modify those reforms that have resulted in demonstrable improvements. DFPS is directed to prepare an implementation plan for the modifications and annual progress reports detailing the department's implementation of certain aspects of the improvement plan, including recommendations for expanding and improving substitute care and adoptive placement provider capabilities.

The commission served to fix the justice system that works with foster kids.

(1) the implementation of each element of the child protective services improvement plan required by Section 51 of this Act for which funding has been obtained; and
(2) the continued implementation of all child protective services reform activities required by Chapter 268, Acts of the 79th Legislature, Regular Session, 2005, as modified by this Act.

Implementation of CPS Improvement Plan The CPS Improvement Plan, as outlined in Senate Bill 758, Section 51, is designed to enhance services for children and families after an investigation indicates risk factors. The plan expands and modifies initiatives that have resulted in demonstrable improvements and that serve the primary goals of:

• keeping families together while ensuring child safety in the home;
• reducing the length of time children remain in state care; and
• improving the quality and accountability of foster care.

(1) expanding the use of family group decision-making;
(2) reducing caseloads for caseworkers providing family-based safety services and ongoing substitute care services;
(3) implementing an enhanced in-home support program, as enacted by Section 264.2011, Family Code, as added by this Act, to provide enhanced in-home supports to certain families;
(4) providing additional purchased client services designed to keep families together and to reunite families more quickly while ensuring child safety;
(5) enhancing support of kinship placements by hiring or contracting to provide additional kinship workers to provide additional support and education to relative placements and purchasing additional support services for relative placements;
(6) enhancing services needed to support court services and preparation of records for adoptive placement;
(7) improving the quality and accountability of child-care licensing monitoring and investigations by assigning those functions to separate staff, providing specialized training to staff who perform each function, performing additional investigations of certain reports involving young children, and providing additional support and oversight to both functions;
(8) expanding substitute and adoptive placement quality and capacity in local communities through the procurement of a statewide needs assessment and through implementation of recommendations for expanding and improving provider capabilities;
(9) streamlining criminal history background checks to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of those checks;
(10) improving the quality of services delivered by the Department of Family and Protective Services through expanded use of mobile technology and enhancements to the department’s CLASS and IMPACT database systems and operations;
(11) expanding implementation of the remediation plan required under Section 1.54, Chapter 268, Acts of the 79th Legislature, Regular Session, 2005, to address racial or ethnic disparities in foster care; and
(12) implementing a statewide pilot program for a time-limited, posthospitalization "step-down" rate, approved by the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission, to support the successful transition of children who have experienced or are likely to experience multiple inpatient admissions in a psychiatric hospital to an appropriate level of care

This program was never funded, and therefore the deadline was never met.

Illinois made a presentation about their system. According to DFPS, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) is composed of representatives from key stakeholder types including foster youth alumni, providers, service provider agencies, foster care networks and associations, the judiciary, child and family advocates, and the DFPS Advisory Council. The organization plays a vital role in the foster care redesign effort. In collaboration with DFPS and other stakeholders, the PPP developed the principles, assumptions, and objectives guiding the project. The PPP serves as the project's guiding body. Members work to raise questions and identify issues for consideration, as well as respond to barriers, solutions, and alternatives. The PPP serves as a primary, but not exclusive, means of communication with stakeholders. As representatives of constituent groups, PPP members report PPP and project activities to their peers and constituents. The PPP member also communicates constituent ideas and issues to the larger PPP body.
The project is engaging stakeholders in a variety of ways.

• Nelson goal with Senate Bill 69 was to re-focus education efforts for children aging out of the foster system; provides additional support for foster parents, especially those caring for special needs children; and establish mentoring for biological parents who succeed in regaining custody of their children.
• "Children who have endured abuse, neglect or abandonment deserve safe, supportive foster homes. We need to wrap our arms around these children and make sure they have the best opportunity at success in life. We must also support those Texans who have opened up their hearts and homes to displaced children," she said

The formal veto:

• Pursuant to Article IV, Section 14, of the Texas Constitution, I, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, do hereby disapprove of and veto Senate Bill No. 1440 of the 81st Texas Legislature, Regular Session, due to the following objections:
• As a result of Gates v. Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, Senate Bill No. 1440 would establish guidelines for Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) caseworkers to follow when making entry and transport-for-interview decisions in alleged child abuse and neglect cases. The court’s decision in Gates is extremely narrow in its articulation of the standards that must be met for transporting a child to conduct an interview. The decision also creates uncertainty about how court orders allowing such transport are to be obtained by DFPS under existing law. This court-created uncertainty must be addressed. Senate Bill No. 1440, however, overreaches and may not give due consideration to the Fourth Amendment rights of a parent or guardian.
• DFPS is charged with protecting the unprotected, and all parties involved benefit when procedures are clear and easily understood. Texas law should provide a clearly delineated investigative process that not only supports the rights of parents and guardians, but also provides DFPS with the proper authority and flexibility to protect the most vulnerable Texans.
• I am directing DFPS, through its parental advisory committee, to study the effect of the Gates decision on the ability of the department to appropriately enter a residence and, if necessary for the protection of the child, to transport the child for interviews in a neutral location. I am also directing DFPS, through its parental advisory committee, to develop and recommend statewide procedures to follow when seeking court orders to aid investigations, while protecting the rights of parents and families.

• S.B. 1440 would have improved our ability to protect Texas’ most vulnerable citizens and enabled us to fulfill our moral obligation to help those who cannot help themselves. It is troubling and wrong that Governor Perry has chosen to block it from becoming law.
• This bill includes an amendment, originally filed as S.B. 1064, that would have secured the rights of parents and families and ensured strong, uniform judicial oversight of a process that is at times tragically necessary to keep our children safe. The bills were joined only because S.B. 1064 was threatened by delays in the House of Representatives.
• Let’s be clear – both pieces of legislation were heard in the House and Senate and approved unanimously at every step. Both the bill and the amendment had the support of a remarkable spectrum of children’s advocates, state agency officials, and legislators from both parties.
• S.B. 1440 would not have granted Child Protective Services greater authority, would not have eliminated parental rights, and the legislation would not have removed due process or ignored the United States Constitution; indeed, it would have ensured Texas law conformed to it.
• Opposition to this bill is based on misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Unfortunately, Governor Perry listened to bad advice, ignored sound, just policy and chose to veto a bill that would have helped protect the children of Texas from abuse and neglect.

A Dallas Morning News Article Read: “Deaths from child abuse and neglect in Texas soared 31 percent to 280 last fiscal year, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services….. Harris County's 67 deaths accounted for nearly a quarter of the state's deaths in fiscal year 2009, which ended Aug. 31. In Dallas County, 29 children died of causes related to abuse or neglect in fiscal 2009. That was up from 24 deaths in fiscal 2008, though down from 31 the previous year.”

DFPS Commissioner Ann Halgonstein formally starts PPP after seeing presentations from other privatized states at San Marcos convention center.

The report said caseworkers had too much caseload and not enough time to assess risk. The report reviewed random 95 case workers. For risk and safety, they evaluated only about half of cases.
Some of their recommendations included:

• Hire 116 more safety service workers
• Use retired police to find hard-to-locate parents
• Use more special investigators
• Enroll parents in parenting and substance abuse programs

According to DFPS, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) is composed of representatives from key stakeholder types including foster youth alumni, providers, service provider agencies, foster care networks and associations, the judiciary, child and family advocates, and the DFPS Advisory Council. The organization plays a vital role in the foster care redesign effort.

The redesign proposal for foster care is due at this time. The committee was told they have no more money than CPS already has to redesign the system.

The redesign proposal for foster care is due at this time. The committee was told they have no more money than CPS already has to redesign the system.

The redesign proposal for foster care is due by Nov. 2010. The committee was told they have no more money than CPS already has to redesign the system. It’s scheduled to be presented to the Legislature in Jan. 2011.