It’s been more than three years since a federal judge ruled that Texas dumps some of the state’s most vulnerable children into a foster care system “where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication and instability are the norm.”
Following a 2015 trial in a lawsuit brought by children’s advocacy groups, federal district judge Janis Jack of Corpus Christi also concluded that state leaders can’t be trusted to reform the system on their own. Her blistering, 260-page verdict delivered in December 2015 accused state officials of deep-sixing an internal review that revealed “staggering” failures in child abuse investigations. She scolded one state witness who attempted to manipulate department data, including lowering child fatality stats. The judge chastised another state expert who, in an attempt to debunk the plaintiffs’ claims, further traumatized a teenage girl who’d already been battered by the system.
More >> Will Texas Keep Fighting Foster Care Reform?
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