Jerry Strickland, a spokesman for the Office of the Texas Attorney General, says the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is handling the litigation and declines to comment further. The AG's Office is listed on the 3rd Court's online records as representing the department.
Robert Doggett, a lawyer at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in Austin who represents the mothers, could not immediately be reached for comment. But in a written statement on May 22, Julie Balovich, another lawyer at TRLA, says it's time that a court stand up and rule that what is happening to the families is wrong.
"The way that the courts have ignored the legal rights of these mothers is ridiculous," she says in the written statement.
Toby Goodman, a family lawyer and partner in Arlington's Goodman & Clark, says he is not surprised the appeals court overturned the district court ruling. "This case is so out of whack with what is normal," says Goodman. He believes the appeals court made the right decision. "I think you have to look at each child's case to determine whether or not that child is at risk. You cannot consider them all on the same basis."
