AUSTIN (KXAN) — A federal judge slammed Texas’ top child welfare officials over claims about missing records, just a week after the state asked for relief in the years-long lawsuit over foster children in its care.
In its filing, the state’s attorneys said it has taken “extraordinary measures” and spent over $100 million to meet the judge’s court-ordered reforms for the system. They argued the state has a “consistent, proven track record of compliance” with these orders and requested less oversight under the lawsuit.
However, in a hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge Janis Jack said she was stunned by the request in light of recent reports about serious incidents involving children in the state’s care.
“To have the hubris to file for a motion for a relief of judgment… is unbelievable,” Judge Jack said. She also noted she would be taking up the motion at a hearing in June.
Friday’s hearing focused on reports filed by the court monitors tasked with overseeing this lawsuit, who alleged they had a difficult time getting records from the state about two specific incidents.
In one, a child ran away from an unlicensed placement earlier this month and, upon returning the next day, reported being sexually assaulted while away, according to the monitors’ report. After a Waco media outlet aired a story on the incident, the monitors — who have been regularly reviewing notes and logs from caseworkers’ shifts — noticed that shift logs were missing from the days the child was allegedly on the run.
An official with the Department of Family and Protective Services explained they were “absolutely” not trying to hide shift logs but rather the logs in question were not originally sent to the monitors due to a policy in how the logs for Children Without Placement are kept and sorted.
“That gap — which we now know about — has been corrected,” added Prerak Shah, an attorney for the private firm now representing the state.
In another incident outlined in the monitors’ report, a child staying at a rental house in Killeen suffered from deteriorating mental health conditions following reports of her being bullied and physically assaulted by other children in the home. Eventually, the child was arrested over an altercation that hospitalized a caseworker and injured a deputy. The monitors claim they only received a Serious Incident Report, or SIR, on the matter after receiving a tip from a whistleblower and asking for the SIR — despite a standing request to receive all such reports from DFPS.
In this instance, DFPS officials pointed to a clerical error, saying the document was “inadvertently” excluded from an email to the monitors containing other SIR documents.
Paul Yetter, an attorney who represents the foster children in the lawsuit, called the situation “a perfect example — a sad and tragic example” of how he believes the state is not complying with the judge’s reforms.
However, in the state’s most recent request for relief, the attorneys argued it had exceeded 90% compliance with at least 10 of the judge’s reforms. Plus, the filing states that the court has already found the state in full compliance with two other orders.
The hearing briefly addressed a separate report filed by the monitors just a day earlier — this time, dealing with the use of psychotropic medications. The report tells the story of a 6-year-old child who has been prescribed five psychotropic medications and flags concerns about how the drugs are being stored and administered.
Psychotropic medications dominated the testimony of several witnesses in a hearing from December, where Judge Jack considered whether to hold the state in contempt of court yet again. The judge has still not issued a ruling in that matter.