The state must pay a $50,000 fine for every day Texas foster children living in large group homes go without around-the-clock supervision, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack — who found the Texas foster care system unconstitutional in 2015 — accused state officials of lying to her and was visibly agitated throughout the hearing as she chastised them for not following through on her past order requiring 24-hour supervision.
At one point, Jack threatened to “put somebody in jail” if the state fails to give understandable information to a team of monitors tasked with ensuring the Department of Family and Protective Services carries out tasks outlined in previous court orders.
The state “wants to argue over process and beds, not the safety of the children,” Jack said during the hearing in Dallas.
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After fighting for years against a 2011 class-action lawsuit that alleged abuse of children in long-term foster care, the state is now in the process of implementing a series of reforms ordered by federal courts. Jack, however, is unsatisfied with their work.
The fines will begin Friday and continue until a team of court-appointed monitors confirms that all children living in large group homes — those with over 12 children — have supervision from adults who are awake at night. The fines will double to $100,000 a day if the state doesn't comply within the first 7 business days, Jack said.
In addition, Jack ordered the department to notify all caregivers by Friday if any foster children in their care have been sexually abused or are sexually aggressive. The state said it tracks that information and provides it to caregivers, but the judge said the monitors found instances in which the notifications did not happen.
Jack’s orders need to be followed for the good of the children, said Paul Yetter, a Houston attorney working with New York-based advocacy group Children’s Rights, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the roughly 11,000 long-term foster children in the care of the state.
“We heard shocking things in court today,” Yetter said. “ The judge came down hard on the state for good reason.”
The attorney general’s office and Department of Family and Protective Services didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Jack said Tuesday that testimony during a 2015 trial led her to believe that large foster care facilities were already required to have overnight supervision, but said she learned recently that wasn't the case until this year.
Kristene Blackstone, associate commissioner for Child Protective Services, told the court Tuesday that many large foster care facilities were already providing overnight supervision before the department mandated they do it last summer.
Though the state has fought the court-ordered reforms at almost every turn, Gov. Greg Abbott and the Legislature made improving child protection a priority in 2017.
The changes included boosting pay for family members who take in a troubled child and further privatizing foster care in certain areas, including Bexar County.
In 2016, the state approved $12,000 raises for about 6,000 child-protection workers, meant to help plug a workforce shortage and stop high rates of turnover.
In January 2018, Jack said the reforms had not gone far enough. “The system remains broken and (the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services) has demonstrated an unwillingness to take tangible steps to fix the broken system,” she wrote in an order.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
Allie Morris covers politics and policy in Austin. Read her on our free site , mySA.com, and on our subscriber site , ExpressNews.com. | amorris@express-news.net | Twitter: @MorrisReports
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