A new study is focusing on how to provide a brighter future for the almost 15,000 abused or neglected children in long-term foster care in Texas.
The Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families, created by the state Supreme Court in 2007, has asked Texas Appleseed, a public interest law organization, to do the study. The commission’s charge to Appleseed calls for the organization to examine the challenges faced by children placed in the permanent managing conservatorship of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (TDFPS) and to identify best practices for the legal system to improve outcomes for those children.
“There are too many kids who end up in the permanent managing conservatorship of the state,” says Supreme Court Justice Harriet O’Neill, chairwoman of the commission. “Everyone knows the state is not a good parent.”
Rebecca Lightsey, Appleseed’s executive director, says her organization plans to spend the next two years working on the project along with its pro bono partners at Fulbright & Jaworski and McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore. “We recognize this is a major, complicated issue,” Lightsey says.
According to TDFPS statistics, 48.1 percent of the 30,743 children in foster care in Texas as of Aug. 31, 2007, were in the department’s permanent managing conservatorship. Lightsey says many of those children are likely to remain in the system until they “age out” at 18. A child for whom TDFPS is the permanent managing conservator spends an average of five years in foster care, during which time he or she may have lived in eight different places and has had to change schools multiple times, Lightsey says.
“It’s no wonder these children have problems,” she says.
According to Appleseed’s issue statement to the commission, children who remain in foster care until they turn 18 are at greater risks of poverty, drug addiction, homelessness and unemployment.
Court Action
Lightsey says it’s the responsibility of the courts to monitor the safety and well-being of the children placed in foster care. “The courts are the place where the rubber meets the road for these children,” she says.
Texas Family Code §263.501(a) and (b) requires a court to hold a placement review hearing every six months for a child for whom the TDFPS has been named the managing conservator. The statute does not specify what has to happen at those hearings.
While courts appoint attorneys ad litem and guardians ad litem to protect the interests of children after the state files petitions to remove them from their homes, Lightsey says, there is no requirement for courts to continue providing those safeguards. Whether a child will continue to have someone advocating for him or her largely depends on where the child lives, she says.
Judge Camile DuBose of the Child Protection Court of South Texas says her court, which serves eight counties, appoints attorneys ad litem for children in long-term foster care until the children turn 18. “I think it’s essential for these kids,” DuBose says.
But Marcy Greer, a civil trial and appellate litigation partner in Fulbright’s Austin office and lead pro bono partner for the Appleseed project, says several judges who she has interviewed indicated that they don’t have the resources to continue providing representation for children in foster care facilities. “It’s not a reflection on the judges; it’s a reflection on the resources available,” Greer says.
Greer says she and others working on the project began interviewing judges in late August. The group has identified 15 jurisdictions — including the state’s six largest counties and rural counties with cluster courts that hear child welfare cases — where teams will interview judges, attorneys ad litem, volunteers with Court Appointed Special Advocates and others involved in the system.
“We’re going to be drilling down in those counties,” Greer says, adding that she is recruiting lawyers to assist with the interviews.
Jennifer Patterson, a tax and estate-planning partner in McGinnis, Lochridge in Austin, says the project will culminate in a set of policy recommendations that will be sent to the Texas Legislature.
Patterson says that, during the 2009 legislative session, participants in the project will identify state legislators interested in working on long-term foster care issues. The goal is to have legislation drafted in time for pre-filing for the 2011 session, she says.
Notes Patterson, “We want to go to the Legislature with the legislation ready.”
