Maybe a $50,000-a-day fine will force Texas to project vulnerable foster kids - The Dallas Morning News

Sometimes it takes significant consequences to force necessary action.

A fed-up Judge Janis Graham Jack warned the state of Texas last month that she would hold the agency in charge of the state’s long-term foster care system in contempt of court if it continued to drag its feet on orders aimed at improving this system.

On Tuesday, she followed through – fining the state $50,000 a day for ignoring her orders on nighttime watches of foster children in group settings. The fines start Friday and will double on Nov. 15 and will continue until court-appointed monitors confirm the children are being watched 24/7 by an adult who is awake. Around-the-clock supervision was including in her sweeping orders.

We don’t like to see taxpayers forking over even more dollars in this case. But we applaud Jack for her determination to keep the 11,000 abused and neglected children in long-term foster care safe. The longer this case drags on, the more danger these kids are potentially exposed to.

“I can no longer find DFPS credible,” Jack said, referring to the Department of Family and Protective Services. “They’ve lied to me at almost every level [and] this is just shameful.”

“Shameful” is the right word to describe it.

A reminder that Jack ruled in this case in 2015. She understandably has lost patience with the state to follow through on her remedies. Perhaps the federal fines will finally be the spark that lights a fire under officials and helps them understand that she’s serious about protecting vulnerable kids.

Of course, it should never have come to this. Though Texas has made some progress – approving raises for caseworkers to reduce turnover, for example, Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have fought the basic essentials of this ruling for too long. Jack has rightly chastised the state for dragging its feet on implementing many recommended improvements.

The state has already spent $10 million fighting this ruling that could have gone to improving the lives of these children. It’ll be even more costly now unless Texas does the right thing and complies with Jack’s orders.

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It’s not too much to ask for the state to make sure vulnerable kids are being closely watched by an adult at all times. We’ve seen the horrors that can happen when they are not.

Judge Jack accused Texas of “obstruction” and being “recalcitrant” in carrying out her sweeping orders. It’s hard to see it any other way. Further inaction is not an option here.

At the end of the week, Texas will start racking up thousands of dollars in federal fines this state can ill-afford. And until there are real fixes to this entire system, vulnerable children will continue to pay the real price.

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Maybe a $50,000-a-day fine will force Texas to project vulnerable foster kids - The Dallas Morning News
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