Topic: Foster Care

Share:

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn

Insight into DFPS priorities for 2022-2023

While we can likely all agree that 2020 has been a year that has somehow simultaneously flown by and dragged on, one thing is certain: the 87th Legislative Session is right around the corner and will be here before we know it. This session brings with it lots of unknowns about how it will be conducted, and state departments have been preparing for a tight budget to carry out their operations. The Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) recently released their Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) for Fiscal Years 2022-2023 which has given us some insight into their priorities for the children and families they serve. 

Looking Back 

Last session, DFPS started out with a $4.2 billion baseline request and was able to secure more funding in several key areas. With this additional funding, the Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) division expanded Project HOPES (Healthy Outcomes though Prevention and Early Support) and Texas Nurse-Family Partnership (TNFP) into four new counties each. DFPS also provided a $6,000 salary increase to Statewide Intake (SWI) staff, which has resulted in decreased turnover and hold times. Increased funding was allocated to increase staffing for the Child Protective Investigations (CPI) and Child Protective Services (CPS) workforce which, according to DFPS, has decreased caseload sizes. Additionally, Community-Based Care received funding to expand to a total of five catchment areas: three in Stage I and two in Stage II (case management). While DFPS achieved its goal to advance two areas into Stage II (Regions 3B and 2), only two areas currently operate in Stage I (Regions 8A and 1). They are re-procuring the contract in Region 8B to hopefully begin Stage I services in the summer of 2021. Provider rates were also increased to help serve the children in their care.  

In light of a global pandemic, state agencies have since had to make adjustments due to the anticipated $4.6 billion shortfall to the entire state budget. State agencies were asked to reduce their expenditures by 5%. While parts of DFPS were exempt from this reduction, DFPS’ total estimated expenditures for Fiscal Years 2020-2021 are estimated to be $4.4 billion.  

Looking Ahead 

DFPS is entering into the next biennium with a $4.5 billion baseline request, which reflects growth forecasts but is impacted by the previous 5% reductions. According to DFPS, this required making some additional funding asks just to get back to a maintenance level of operations. In a typical legislative budget cycle, one would expect numerous exceptional items above DFPS’ baseline request. However, with the current economic climate in the midst of a pandemic and a costly ongoing federal lawsuit, DFPS’ approach to the budget is narrow in scope and only aimed at initiatives they consider to be most necessary. DFPS’ LAR includes requests for an additional $192 million to carry these out. 

Prevention 

While approximately $182 million in exceptional items focus on the functions once a family has experienced crisis, it was most promising to see requests for additional investments in keeping families safely together and preventing removals. DFPS specifically included an exceptional item request for an additional $10 million investment in PEI services, specifically Project HOPES, the Family and Youth Success Program (formerly known as STAR), and the Military Families Program. Citing the costs of each program in comparison to the cost of foster care services, DFPS acknowledged these services as a “cost-effective alternative to foster care.” DFPS also included a placeholder to discuss how to leverage the funding opportunities in the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA). Their FFPSA strategic plan provides numerous options to carry out the prevention provisions of this federal legislation, and they want the Legislature to weigh in.  

Protection 

DFPS has prioritized maintaining its current CPS operations to ensure they are keeping children safe and providing families with the supports they need. This $99 million request includes additional funding to restore the travel costs that decreased during the beginning of the pandemic, ensure they can continue providing services to clients at the current levels, and additional conservatorship (CVS) caseworkers to meet the target caseload sizes.  

To comply with the decade-long federal lawsuit, DFPS included an additional request for $39 million. This amount includes additional staff to meet the heightened monitoring requirements to ensure facilities are adhering to minimum standards and additional staff for Residential Child Care Investigations (RCCI) to address the Court’s concerns about the timeliness and quality of their work. These additional funds also will cover the fees for the court monitors to oversee compliance and report back to the Court. 

To continue the momentum of expanding Community-Based Care, DFPS has requested an additional $44 million in funding for the costs associated with expanding Stage I into four new areas and Stage II into two new areas. 

We look forward to working with DFPS and the Legislature to protect and support investments in child abuse and neglect prevention, to promote family preservation, and to ensure the children and families in their care receive the services they need to be safe and successful. Stay connected with us for updates on budget discussions throughout the session and to find out how you can get involved. 

Share:

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn

Here’s How TexProtects Has Been Advocating for Texas Children and Families in October

TexProtects has been hard at work advocating for children and families. Recently, we submitted comments in response to Requests for Information (RFI) from three different legislative committees on how lawmakers can leverage the funding opportunities in the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA), invest in early childhood brain development, and ensure the trauma-informed training components of House Bill 18 and Senate Bill 11 from the last legislative session are implemented successfully.

The Texas House Appropriations Subcommittee on Article II and the Texas House Human Services Committee asked for the public to weigh in on how Texas is preparing for federal funding changes resulting from FFPSA. With the passage of this federal legislation, states now have access to a funding mechanism for families to be connected to evidence-based, trauma-informed prevention services in the community to prevent removals into foster care. We provided them with our assessment on the Department of Family and Protective Services’ (DFPS) strategic plan on how they plan to implement FFPSA, and we laid out opportunities we see for Texas to take advantage of this potentially transformative legislation. You can check out more specifically what we had to say in our RFI submissions here and here.

The Texas House Appropriations Subcommittee on Article II also asked for comments on how the state invests in early childhood brain development. Knowing how critical these early years are, we encouraged the committee to fund community-based, primary child abuse prevention programs for children prenatal to age 5. We also advocated for the expansion of universal prevention strategies in public health settings since healthcare settings remain one of the most universal touchpoints for families with young children and can connect families to critical services during a very vulnerable time. To strengthen families and ensure child safety prior to a crisis, we also took the opportunity to ask the committee to support our additional Prenatal to Three (PN-3) Collaborative agenda items. More information about our comments can be found here.

The Texas Public Education Committee requested recommendations on the 86th Legislature’s House Bill 18 and Senate Bill 11 regarding school safety, student mental health, and trauma-informed training. We suggested providing additional guidance and incentives for pursuing activities that are evidence-based and have the potential to prevent future threats to school safety by preventing and mitigating the effects of adverse childhood experiences. We also provided recommendations on how to implement the trauma-informed training components. You can find more information on our recommendations here.

While we are passionate about making smart investments to ensure families have the resources they need and children are safe, we can’t do this work alone. We need your help to ensure these efforts move forward. Feeling motivated? We encourage you to reach out to your state representatives and talk to them about the importance of these issues and what they can do for the children and families of Texas. Not sure who represents you? You can find out by going here and entering in your information. We look forward to locking arms with you to make Texas better for the children and families who call this state home.

Share:

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn

What One Grandparent Wants You to Know About Supporting Kinship Caregivers

Mercedes Bristol is a grandparent raising five grandchildren after their involvement with Child Protective Services (CPS). She also advocates for the needs and rights of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. Mercedes is what is known as a kinship caregiver.

According to the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), 276,800 children in Texas reside with an adult, like Mercedes, who is not their parent. This includes, but is not limited to, both informal (i.e. placement without CPS legal intervention) and formal (i.e. placement for children in state custody or a licensed kinship family home) kinship placements. For children in the state’s custody, more than 40% of children are placed in a kinship home across most regions.

Mercedes has been actively involved with kinship caregiver support groups in the San Antonio area and co-leads a group quarterly meeting alongside DFPS. Mercedes additionally lends her personal experience and expertise to the policy-making process by working closely with CPS to provide input and review policies, and she encourages other grandparents to get involved as well.

Kinship caregivers have unique needs and often do not know what services are available to them and the children in their care. Many kinship caregivers face financial challenges but do not receive the same kind of financial compensation as foster parents unless they decide to become licensed. However, that is only an option for children who are in the state’s custody.

But what about families who step up when CPS isn’t legally involved? There are even fewer supports, and it can be difficult to learn how to navigate multiple systems to obtain the services they need. They may not have anyone to help guide them. Regardless of the steep road of challenges, kinship caregivers rise to the occasion.

We spoke with Mercedes about her own experience, the opportunities for Texas to better support kinship caregivers, and the supports she can offer.

TexProtects: What has been the most rewarding thing about being a caregiver to your grandchildren?

Mercedes Bristol: When they all go to bed at night after saying our prayers and see that they are safe.

TP: You already got involved in a significant way by stepping up to meet the needs of your family. What made you want to take a step further and get more involved in community and policy work?

MB: One day I was struggling with the step I had taken. Then someone told me to not just let life happen to my grandchildren and me but to be proactive instead! I knew I was not the only one raising my grandchildren, and I decided to be a support to them. From there, I joined a support group called Abuelos y Nietos Juntos in 2012 run by Dr. Santos and received much needed support from this group. Knowing there were other grandparents like myself, I asked if we could start other groups and Dr. Santos helped me start one. We are now 12 support groups and growing. Besides the support groups, we thought that we needed to make people aware of grandparents’ needs, so we contacted state representatives and senators and Judge Peter Sakai in San Antonio. That is where the advocacy part started.

TP: What are the needs you hear about the most in the support groups you helped establish?

MB: Most of the support we give is around the CPS system because grandparents need information on how to navigate the CPS system. We hear about legal issues when a parent just drops off the children and leave without proper paperwork for the grandparent to provide educational, medical, or financial assistance for the children.

TP: With the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) implementation right around the corner, what opportunities do you see for Texas to take advantage of this legislation to meet those needs? [For more information on FFPSA and how it can be used to support kinship caregivers, see our report: Family First Prevention Services Act: A Shift in the Right Direction for Families.]

MB: The opportunity to draw from those federal funds would allow us to help children that have not entered the state’s custody who are placed with a grandparent or kinship caregiver. Those funds would immediately equip them by providing the necessary things so that the children enter a secure home that kinship caregivers will and can provide for them.

TP: How do you hope to see a kinship navigator program implemented in Texas?

MB: In practice, I want kinship caregivers to be able to call whichever agency is assigned as the kinship navigator, do an intake form, and then be assigned to a caseworker that can assess their needs. I want that same agency to have the ability to provide all the things that the family needs. For instance, many families need legal assistance and to be able to obtain vital statistics. They need to be counseled on the options they have. Families also need emotional support. They often need financial assistance or help paying for utilities or rent, so they need help applying for benefits. I have seen that families need access to clothing closets and food pantries. They need help with mental health assessments for the children in their care who have experienced trauma or need help meeting the needs of children with disabilities. Families need someone to help them with the necessary referrals to have these assessments done. They also need help with school enrollments. Any sort of kinship navigator program needs to connect them to those supports, not just give them a referral.

TP: For those in our audience that may be looking at how to get connected, can you tell our audience what your support groups look like and the benefits you have seen for kinship caregivers who attend? Also, how can kinship caregivers get connected to these?

MB: We invite a community resource to come and speak to the group and have some coffee and snacks. We introduce ourselves if there are new grandparents raising grandchildren. Then we allow them to tell why they are there, and the group takes different forms. I am there to facilitate the conversations. Sometimes there is crying and awareness that they are not alone and that there is hope to find help in their situation. We have a website and a Facebook page that will give them access to the support groups or other resources. I also co-facilitate a quarterly support group with DFPS that is offered to kinship caregivers that are in the CPS system. 

Share:

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn

Frontline for Children | September 2020

CHILD PROTECTION POLICY – NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

The Moment is Now: Children’s Bureau August/September Newsletter: Vol. 21, No. 6 (Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau)

This edition of the Children’s Bureau Express newsletter “is a call to action across public, private, philanthropic, and faith-based sectors to chart a different course to strengthen families through primary prevention and create a more just and equitable system focused on child and family well-being. It is a consensus statement that stresses how we must all value and invest in families and communities.” The newsletter highlights equity issues across elements of the child welfare system, from foster care environments to family courts and the justice system.

TexProtects Takeaway: We stand with the authors of this brief in demanding that we do more to demonstrate our commitment to families – especially families of color. The escalating costs and bleak outcomes of our child welfare system make clear that we must do more. The cost of inaction is too high.

Kids’ Share 2020: Report on Federal Expenditures on Children through 2019 and Future Projections (Urban Institute) 

“To inform policymakers, children’s advocates, and the general public about how public funds are spent on children, this 14th edition of the annual Kids’ Share report provides an updated analysis of federal expenditures on children from 1960 to 2019. This year’s Kids’ Share report also provides a baseline view of public expenditures before the COVID-19 pandemic.”

TexProtects Takeaway: Only 9% of the federal budget is spent on children and that is expected to decline to 73% over the next decade. Our increased understanding of the long term social and fiscal impacts of early life experiences should drive stronger investments in our children to ensure we are not faced with the same challenges tomorrow that we have today.

 Supporting Families and Child Care Providers during the Pandemic with a Focus on Equity (Child Trends)

“The purpose of this brief is to explore the specific challenges that families and child care providers are facing, especially those who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and to offer potential strategies that state and local policymakers and administrators can pursue to address families’ and providers’ unique needs.”

TexProtects Takeaway: 40% of childcare centers have reported that, without support, they will be forced to close due to the pandemic. Lack of safe childcare options puts children at risk and impacts parents’ ability to work.

CHILD PROTECTION RESEARCH – NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

Biological Aging in Childhood and Adolescence Following Experiences of Threat and Deprivation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Colich, N., Rosen, M., Williams, E., & McLaughlin, K.)

“This meta-analysis and systematic review suggests that biological aging following early life adversity, including earlier pubertal timing, advanced cellular aging, and accelerated thinning of the cortex, may be specific to children and adolescents who experienced violent or traumatic experiences early in childhood. No such effect was found for children who experienced deprivation or poverty in the absence of violence or trauma. These findings highlight a potential role of accelerated biological aging in health disparities associated with early life trauma, and a potential target for early interventions.”

TexProtects Takeaway: The evidence on the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) continues to grow. Child safety and well-being are critical for healthy futures. This upcoming legislative session, TexProtects will work with policymakers to draft legislation that would ensure Texas creates a strategic and evidence-informed approach to preventing and mitigating the effects of ACEs.

Improving Children’s Well-Being through Responsible Fatherhood Programs (OPRE, Healthy Marriage & Responsible Fatherhood – HMRF, Mathematica, & Public Strategies)

“Fathers’ parenting engagement (that is, the ways in which fathers interact with their children) is linked to many aspects of children’s well-being, from health outcomes to academic and social outcomes. However, nonresident fathers with low incomes often face barriers to being fully engaged.” This brief explores how responsible fatherhood programs might improve children’s well-being by supporting fathers’ parenting engagement.

TexProtects Takeaway: A strong father-child relationship is associated with fewer behavioral problems and decreased likelihood of smoking and dropping out of school later in life. Many HOPES sites around the state are implementing fatherhood programs as part of their comprehensive prevention work to ensure early relational health between children and all their caregivers. Connection matters.

Central Referral Systems Help Reduce Contributors to Family Toxic Stress (Chapin Hall at University of Chicago)

This brief describes an evaluation of the Help Me Grow system model, which includes a central referral system to orient families to the social services they need by phone, and outreach by staff to build community stakeholders’ understanding of child development and referral processes. “Through interviews with Help Me Grow staff members and pediatricians, and focus groups held with parents and community-based organizations, the study team investigated how these different stakeholders use Help Me Grow, and how these supports impact children’s developmental journeys.”

TexProtects Takeaway:  Texas has six communities who are working to implement the Help Me Grow model and the Department of State Health Services is serving as the hub for this innovative work. With an integrated framework, these systems ensure families can access the right services at the right time and that stakeholders know more about the needs and capacity within their community.

Program Integrates Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Assessment into Primary Health Care; Connects Families with Services (Chapin Hall at The University of Chicago)

“Support, Connect, and Nurture (SCAN) is a program that integrates Family Development Specialist services and assessment of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) into health care provided to expectant parents and parents receiving routine health care in a Patient Centered Medical Home. The key goals of SCAN are patient education and influencing help-seeking behavior related to social determinants of health.” This brief highlights a recent longitudinal study of the SCAN intervention, including the experiences of adult patients and health clinic staff who took part in the intervention from 2015-2019.   

TexProtects Takeaway: Texas healthcare providers could use the SCAN model to better reduce provider stress and facilitate conversations about trauma and resiliency with caregivers. A strategic plan on preventing and mitigating the effects of ACEs could include looking into programs like SCAN as part of a cross-sector approach to increase family well-being.

CHILD PROTECTION IN PRACTICE – NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

Connecting the Dots: A Resource Guide for Meeting the Needs of Expectant and Parenting Youth, their Children, and their Families (Center for the Study of Social Policy)

This resource guide, designed to support expectant and parenting youth in foster care (mothers and fathers), strives to: “1) provide a comprehensive set of resources for jurisdictions working to achieve safety, permanency, and well-being for these young families; 2) enhance knowledge of evidence-informed and promising practices that holistically address the developmental needs of expectant and parenting youth in foster care (EPY), their children, and families; and 3) build evidence for effective interventions that are informed by and specifically target EPY.”

TexProtects Takeaway: The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) makes available a federal match to provide pregnant and parenting foster youth with evidence-based substance use treatment, mental healthcare, and in-home parenting programs. Texas must capitalize on this opportunity to offer transformational services to survivors of abuse and neglect as they work to break the cycle and provide a safe home for their own children.

Recommendations for Trauma-Informed Care Under the Family First Prevention Services Act (National Child Traumatic Stress Network & Chapin Hall at University of Chicago)

This resource outlines “recommendations for how jurisdictions can understand Family First’s policy requirements for trauma-informed approaches and ensure that implementation of the law meets the trauma-related needs of children, youth, and families.”

TexProtects Takeaway: Given the prevalence of trauma in system-involved children and their families, child welfare staff must be well-trained in understanding and navigating trauma responses. Trauma informed strategies help build trust and engagement between staff and families ensuring better decisions and outcomes within the child protection system. FFPSA can help fund this kind of training, if Texas policymakers make it a priority.

Share:

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn

How Will Texas Implement FFPSA?

Texas has moved one step closer to creating a state plan that leverages federal funding to prioritize prevention and family preservation.

In February 2018, Congress passed the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) which makes available a federal match for state investments in evidence-based and trauma informed supports to families at risk BEFORE a removal occurs. These services address the core drivers of child abuse and neglect including substance use, mental health, and parenting challenges. However, in order to successfully leverage this opportunity, state leaders have a number of crucial decisions to make.

Last legislative session, TexProtects championed Senate Bill 355 authored by Senator West which required the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to develop a strategic plan outlining how they intend to implement the provisions of FFPSA. That plan was released earlier this week.

DFPS’ strategic plan highlights the alignments between the goals of the Department and the goals of FFPSA and offers information and implementation options to support the budgetary decisions in the 87th legislative session that will largely determine the scope of FFPSA’s transformational potential. We applaud the prioritization of prevention and support of kinship caregivers in the state’s plan; however, the plan leaves many critical questions unanswered and may not do enough to target populations at risk of entering foster care.

For a quick overview of the top three items of good news in the plan and the top three areas of concern – see below.

First the good news:

  1. DFPS was awarded $50.3 million in Family First Transition Act funds to help implement the provisions of FFPSA and they intend to utilize $33.9 million of those dollars on prevention. They will be spending the rest of the funds on a Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP) pilot and on IT changes.
  2. DFPS is investing in efforts to better serve informal kinship placements who don’t have as many supports. To ensure caregivers in informal kinship placements know what is available and can be better linked to services, DFPS has issued grants to four providers to complete needs assessments, evaluations, and pilots to support the development of a kinship navigator program. DFPS has also invested in training for 2-1-1 staff on the needs of kinship caregivers they plan to create a marketing campaign designed to ensure kinship caregivers are aware of the resources available to them through 2-1-1.
  3. The DFPS plan includes seven options for expanding prevention services, each with varying degrees of complexity and cost. Approximately half of these options capitalize on and expand the innovative and effective community networks that have been built through the Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) division of DFPS. This is a smart solution that will enable Texas to quickly build on existing infrastructure to better support families.

Areas of concern within the DFPS plan include the following:

  1. The state stands to lose $26 million in Title IV-E eligible dollars per year unless there are increased placements available in family-like settings or a QRTP. This will need to be accounted for somewhere in the budget but must not be taken from children and families who are already receiving effective prevention services.
  2. 43% of families who have had an open Family Based Safety Services (FBSS) case have another case of child maltreatment within five years of completing services. DFPS’ definition of who is eligible for prevention services includes families participating in FBSS. While the children and families served by this stage of service naturally and most closely fit the broad federal eligibility criteria of children who are at imminent risk of entering foster care, DFPS acknowledged in this plan that many of the provided services are not evidence-based and do not meet the FFPSA standards. To use this funding as intended will require a significant shift in mentality and accountability for the quality and outcomes of services offered to families in FBSS.
  3. DFPS can define who is eligible for prevention services; however, their suggested definition only captures families who are already engaging with the system. Their definition includes families with an open FBSS case, children who have already been in care but are now are at risk of placement disruption or re-entry, and pregnant and parenting youth in Child Protective Services (CPS) custody. There is room for improvement here to consider other populations at risk as well as more upstream options that support families BEFORE they have an open case and CPS involvement.

Now, it is up to lawmakers to decide the best way to move forward, and the potential impact on children and families will largely be decided on their willingness to prioritize prevention and family preservation. Be on the lookout for the release of our FFPSA Brief that will outline this federal legislation and the Texas plan in more detail later this month.

Share:

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn

FRONTLINE FOR CHILDREN | JULY 2020

CHILD PROTECTION POLICY – NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

Maternal and Child Health Inequities Emerge Even Before Birth (Child Trends)

Highlighting findings from the State of Babies Yearbook: 2020, this brief focuses on the evident disparities in maternal health and birth outcomes among babies and families of color: “To have a healthy pregnancy and positive birth outcomes, women and their infants require access to appropriate health care services, before, during, and after birth.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway:  Black and Indigenous babies have a much higher risk of birth complications, low birthweight, and death within their first year of life in comparison to white babies. To achieve the strongest possible outcomes for all, we must meaningfully address health disparities in our communities, beginning with the earliest days of each child’s life.

Tracking COVID-19’s Effects by Race and Ethnicity (Urban Institute)

To work toward an equitable recovery for all U.S. citizens, policymakers and practitioners should pursue solutions that acknowledge and account for COVID-19’s disparate impact on communities of color. “To design these race-conscious policies, policymakers need data to gauge how the pandemic may be affecting people’s health, housing, and livelihoods. This tool uses the near-real-time Household Pulse Survey data to track a set of measures for US households as the pandemic and recovery unfold.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: The onset of this health crisis has further exposed how systemic racism is creating harmful disparities between white communities and communities of color. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is taking the first step and has recently announced that it is seeking to remedy the lack of information about how Black and Latinx/Hispanic communities are affected by the virus. All labs that test for COVID-19 are now required to collect information on race, ethnicity, and other factors.

Start with Equity: From the Early Years to the Early Grades (Bipartisan Policy Center & The Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University)

“Millions of young children are disproportionately underserved, over-punished, and barred from high-quality education in American schools…. The Children’s Equity Project and the Bipartisan Policy Center have come together to create an actionable policy roadmap for states and the federal government—as well as for candidates at all levels of government vying for office—to take meaningful steps to remedy these inequities in early learning and education systems.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: More than half of the children in the United States are children of color. COVID-19 is exacerbating the inequitable distribution of opportunity in our education system. This policy agenda supports fully funding programs like Head Start, requiring states to report plans on who they will work to make learning systems more equitable, supporting and funding equitable educator training, and ensuring all education legislation prioritizes racial, ethnic, linguistic, socioeconomic, and ability-based integration.

Health Care Access for Infants and Toddlers in Rural Areas  (Child Trends)

“While many public reports provide indicator data on rural health care access at the national level, this brief uses data from the State of Babies Yearbook: 2020 to examine state-level differences in how infants and toddlers living in rural areas are faring. Equipped with these data, state policymakers can explore strategies to support the needs of very young children and their families.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway:  Only 0.5% of infants and toddlers in Texas who could benefit from evidence-based home visiting (HV) programs are receiving those services. This upcoming legislative session, policymakers in Texas must identify why there are gaps in how existing HV programs serve rural children and families.

As schools reopen, addressing COVID-19-related trauma and mental health issues will take more than mental health services (Child Trends)

To address COVID-19 related trauma and mental health concerns amongst students, Child Trends recommends that decision-makers in education take a comprehensive approach that extends beyond offering school-based mental health services. Such an approach includes (but is not limited to) educating all school staff about trauma and mental health; acknowledging that not every community has experienced the pandemic in the same way; and ensuring that school staff know how to connect students to community-based mental health resources.

TexProtects’ Takeaway: Through the passage of HB 18, the Texas Legislature took a step last session to ensure that all school staff are adequately trained to understand the impact of trauma on students, implement strategies to minimize the negative impacts, and maximize academic opportunities in an environment of safety and connection, making referrals when needed and with parental consent. Policymakers and organizations like TexProtects must hold school districts accountable and ensure that these mandatory trainings are taking place in a timely fashion.

To support infant development, states can encourage parents to read, sing, and tell stories with their children (Child Trends)

“Here’s an easy, evidence-based, and low-cost investment for early childhood leaders and policymakers to promote young children’s development, empower parents, and strengthen families: Encourage parents and other caregivers to read, sing, and tell stories to their children. It’s that simple.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: Building the caregiver-child bond through singing, reading, and telling stories contributes to strengthening resiliency and encouraging literacy skills and cognitive and socioemotional intelligence in young children.

CHILD PROTECTION RESEARCH – NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

Different brain profiles in children with prenatal alcohol exposure with or without early adverse exposures (Andre, Q., McMorris, C., Kar, P., Ritter, C., Gibbard, B. Tortorelli, C., & Lebel, C.)

“Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) has been linked with widespread brain abnormalities including reduced brain volume, altered cortical thickness, and altered white matter connectivity. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), the neurodevelopmental disorder associated with PAE, is the most common cause of preventable developmental disabilities in children… The goal of this study was to determine how PAE in the presence or absence of postnatal adverse exposures is associated with brain structure and mental health symptoms in children.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: This research contributes to a long line of research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and how they shape the physical and mental brain health of children. TexProtects is working with policymakers on legislation that would create a framework in Texas on how to mitigate and treat ACEs on a statewide level to ensure the health of every child.

Father-child play: A systematic review of its frequency, characteristics and potential impact on children’s development (Amodia-Bidakowska, A., Laverty, C., & Ramchandani, P.)

This paper reflects a systematic literature review of publications in psychological and educational databases (until the year 2018) to “characterize the nature and potential impact of father-child play” for children ages 0-3. Given their findings, the authors suggest that father-child play can substantially benefit children’s development, which “provides a clear imperative for policy makers and practitioners to facilitate and support fathers, as well as mothers, in developing more positive and playful interactions with their infants.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: Fathers matter! Encouraging strong father-child relationships is part of building protective factors for resiliency in children. This report enforces that early father-infant play is linked to positive social, emotional, and cognitive outcomes.

CHILD PROTECTION IN PRACTICE – NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

African American, American Indian, and Alaska Native children are all more likely to live in grandfamilies – “families in which grandparents, other adult family members or close family friends are raising children with no parents in the home” – than other racial or ethnic groups. The following two reports by Generations United are intended to support child welfare or other government agencies, as well as nonprofits, to better serve the grandfamilies with which they work:

TexProtects’ Takeaway: Children of color are dramatically overrepresented in kinship care both within and without the formal foster care system. Historically, there has been a severe lack of support and services for these families – especially those that are culturally appropriate.

Road to Resilience: Raising Healthy Kids (Mayo Clinic Health System)

“This six-week virtual program will help you and the youth in your life combat the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). There are a variety of resources in linked pages on this site that you and your youth should review at your own pace. You can read content, watch videos or do activities.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can lead to negative mental and physical health effects later in life. This tool is a great way to help build resiliency against these potential negative outcomes so that ACES do not dictate a child’s future.

Using Media Effectively with Young Children and Virtual Visitation (Youth Law Center & Quality Parenting Initiative)

“While in-person visitation is the best way to support families, it isn’t always possible during this emergency. Now more than ever, it is critically important that birth and foster parents partner together to ensure that children experience continuity of relationships and can maintain contact with the people they love.” This brief shares research and practical suggestions from Dr. Rachel Barr, an expert in media and young children, to help parents navigate and make the best of virtual visitation with their young children.

TexProtects’ Takeaway:  Virtual visitation can be used to maintain and strengthen relationships for young children. Learn how to navigate difficulty holding a child’s attention, problems with eye contact and sharing attention, loss of physical contact, technical problems, and toddler independence.

Share:

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn

FRONTLINE FOR CHILDREN | June 2020

CHILD PROTECTION POLICY – NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

State of Babies Yearbook 2020 (Zero to Three & Think Babies)

“The State of Babies Yearbook: 2020 compares national and state-by-state data on the well-being of infants and toddlers. The current state of babies tells an important story about what it is like to be a very young child in this country, and where we are headed as a nation. By nearly every measure, children living in poverty and children of color face the biggest obstacles, such as low birthweight, unstable housing, and limited access to quality child care.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: Texas state ranked 43rd on the list for child wellbeing and our ranking for economic wellbeing, family & community, health, and education were not much higher on the list. With one in ten American children living here in Texas, we MUST do better. Our Prenatal to Three (PN-3) Collaborative has an ambitious policy agenda to improve services for 300,000 low income infants and toddlers in Texas.

Integrated data can help states better respond to and recover from crises like COVID-19 (Child Trends)

“State policymakers and program administrators need access to reliable and continuous data about early childhood services to understand what services have been disrupted, where services are most urgently needed, and how to deploy resources during and after the crisis to best support children and families.” Early childhood integrated data systems afford states access to comprehensive data, which may assist them in more efficiently responding to and recovering from crises like the global pandemic.

TexProtects’ Takeaway: The early childhood work in Texas is fragmented across multiple state agencies including TEA, HHSC, TWC, DSHS, and DFPS. To understand the way forward will require integrated data systems in order to better identify gaps and needs and coordinate and deliver services efficiently and effectively.

States Are Using the CARES Act to Improve Child Care Access during COVID-19 (Child Trends)

“The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act included $3.5 billion in emergency funds for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and the federal Administration for Children and Families issued guidance to allow states more flexibility in meeting Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) requirements to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.… A new policy scan from Child Trends shows that states are using these emergency funds to improve the affordability of care and increase provider compensation.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: As the nation continues to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, child care plays an even more vital role for working parents and caregivers needing respite. Texas is one of the states continuing to pay child care providers who accept subsidies, which is especially crucial due to closures of care centers and low attendance and enrollment in programs. Texas is also providing additional funding to providers who are taking care of the children of essential workers so that they will continue to serve families in need.

 CHILD PROTECTION RESEARCH – NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

Addressing Racial Disparity in Foster Care Placement (National Child Welfare Workforce Institute – NCWWI )

This resource summary examines a recent case study in county-level public child welfare practices that attempt to address racial disparity in foster care placement. NCWWI concludes: “Child welfare systems need case-level strategies and community-supported interventions to reduce racial disparities in removal decisions and disproportionality in foster care systems. Child welfare administrators should consider development and training on case-practice and decision-making processes that reduce racial bias and increase racial equity. Additionally, it is critical to create collaborative community partnerships to develop systems of care that impact racial disparity within the larger community.”

TexProtects Takeaway: Tackling disproportionality in the child protection system cannot be done in isolation. It is crucial we collaborate across systems when addressing this disproportionality. There must be increased dedication, support, and resources toward both describing and solving the problem. Stay tuned for an upcoming blog series on disproportionality in our child protection systems.

A Review of the Literature on Access to High-Quality Care for Infants and Toddlers (Child Trends)

“While we know that high-quality early learning experiences that begin early in life can promote young children’s development and help reduce achievement gaps, much of the literature has focused on child outcomes related to attendance in early care and education programs for preschool-age children; less is known about how quality child care contributes to the development of infants and toddlers.” This literature review examines the existing research on access to high-quality care, specifically for infants and toddlers.

TexProtects’ Takeaway: Quality matters and access and affordability are continued challenges. COVID-19 has made the problems clearer than ever. If we want to do better and do something different, the time is now.

Resident Hispanic Fathers Report Frequent Involvement in the Lives of Their Children (Child Trends)

“To date, limited research has examined father involvement among Latinos — the largest racial/ethnic minority group in the United States today. Documenting levels of father involvement for Latino fathers, as we do in this brief, provides one important piece of the story needed to understand contemporary patterns of Hispanic fathering…. This brief uses data from the 2013-2017 NSFG [National Survey of Family Growth] to look more closely at levels of involvement for Hispanic fathers who live with their children.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: Information on how fathers of color are involved in their children’s lives is important to providing community resources to further support families in caring for their children. Protecting kids mean supporting their families (and that means mothers AND fathers AND other caregivers)

Home Visiting Career Trajectories: Snapshot of Home Visitor’s Qualifications, Job Experiences, and Career Pathways (Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation – Administration for Children & Families)

Research on home visiting staff and the opportunities available for their professional development is relatively scarce. The study highlighted in this report sought to assess “the home visiting workforce in MIECHV Program-funded local implementing agencies (LIAs) to gather needed information about home visitors’ backgrounds and career paths. This snapshot highlights findings on home visitors’ qualifications, job experiences, and career pathways.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway:  Home visiting is a critical community service and proven prevention strategy for families with young children. Home visitors in MIECHV Program-funded agencies have strong educational backgrounds and job-related experience and the majority of home visitors are likely to continue their jobs for the next two years. This is good news for communities who have access to these programs!

Not in the Same Boat – The Pandemic Is Reducing Childcare Availability for Lower-income Families (University of Oregon Center for Translational Neuroscience – UOregon CTN)

As part of their Rapid Assessment of Pandemic Impact on Development Early Childhood Household Survey Project (RAPID-EC Project), UOregon CTN is updating this site weekly with new reports on survey findings that assess how COVID-19 is impacting young children and their families across the US. In addition to this report, the project has recently published findings on the decline of well-child visits and young children’s mental health difficulties during COVID-19.

The full list of RAPID-EC Project reports can be found here.

TexProtects’ Takeaway: We must do more to ensure lower-income families get the child care resources they need during the COVID-19 crisis. We must take action through policy change in order to prevent child care providers who serve lower-income families from shuttering. Stay connected with our PN-3 Collaborative to be part of the solution.

 CHILD PROTECTION IN PRACTICE – NEW AND NOTEWORTHY

Resources to Support Children’s Emotional Well-Being Amid Anti-Black Racism, Racial Violence, and Trauma (Child Trends)

In this resource, Child Trends offers “… several steps that caregivers can take to support all children, and especially those who have experienced direct or secondary racial trauma. While the evidence strongly suggests that caregivers need a holistic understanding of how, and in what ways, racial trauma impacts children and youth of all races and ethnicities, our recommendations focus primarily on anti-Black racism and the racial trauma experienced by Black children and families. These recommendations can provide caregivers with a foundation for speaking with children about racism and racial trauma.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: Learning to be anti-racist and unlearning systemic oppression of Black individuals must start at an early age. Parents and children can use these resources to learn together what it means to move past changing beliefs into taking action to ensure a safer and more just world for people of color.

Healing and Supporting Fathers: Principles, Practices, and Resources for Fatherhood Programs to Help Address and Prevent Domestic Violence (Child Trends)

“Domestic violence (DV) is a widespread problem in the United States. Experiencing and/or witnessing violence in relationships can negatively affect the health of parents and their children. Therefore, any program that works with families should play a part in preventing and addressing domestic violence. Fatherhood programs provide an opportunity to engage fathers in these efforts. This document includes: Background information to help fatherhood programs better understand DV; Foundational principles fatherhood programs can adopt to address and prevent DV; Descriptions of promising practices already being used by some fatherhood programs; Recommended future directions for fatherhood programs, based on current challenges in the field.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway:  Family violence is correlated with poor outcomes for children. Fathers who may be perpetrators and/or survivors of violence need a safe space to educate themselves and unlearn these behaviors. Families and children are stronger when fathers are engaged and healthy.

Share:

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn

FRONTLINE FOR CHILDREN | MAY 2020

Where Science Meets Policy

Child Protection Policy – New and Noteworthy

COVID-19 recovery presents an opportunity to fill critical gaps in knowledge about equipping schools to address trauma

“Many students will return to school having experienced increased adversity and trauma related to COVID-19, including increased risk of child maltreatment, domestic violence, food insecurity, and homelessness. With timely investments in evaluation, we can leverage this experience to determine the best ways to equip teachers and other non-clinical staff to support students experiencing trauma.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: 60% of schools were not offering mental health treatment services before COVID-19. House Bill 18, a bill championed by TexProtects last session, will help ensure that school staff have training to understand the effects of trauma as well as strategies and supports to help struggling students be healthy and continue learning.

Nationwide Survey: Child Care in the time of Coronavirus (Bipartisan Policy Center)

A new survey conducted by Bipartisan Policy Center and Morning Consult explores child care needs amidst COVID-19 in terms of balancing work and the need for care; parents’ caregiving activities and approaches; the search for and return to care as states reopen; provider closures; and child care as an essential service.

TexProtects’ Takeaway: While work situations have changed for 86% of surveyed families, the need for child care has not. Just 22% of essential workers have been able to maintain their previous child care placement since COVID-19, 60% of programs are closed, and 21% of those still doing in-person work have reduced their hours to care for children. In order for families with young children to get back to work, Texas must invest in a child care infrastructure that increases access and affordability.

Child Protection Research – New and Noteworthy

Evaluating an Enhanced Home Visiting Program to Prevent Rapid Repeat Pregnancy Among Adolescent Parents (Family & Youth Services Bureau, OPRE, and Mathematica)

“A small but growing body of evidence suggests a combination of individualized support services and improved access to effective contraception can promote healthy birth spacing among adolescent mothers. To build on this promising research, the Administration for Children and Families partnered with Mathematica to conduct an evaluation of Steps to Success.” Steps to Success is a home visiting program in San Antonio, Texas.

TexProtects’ Takeaway: Innovations in the field of home visiting allow programs to better ensure that the program is tailored to the needs of unique communities and clients for maximum impact. In this example, program elements and intensity were adjusted to increase a specific outcome. Stay tuned for our upcoming report on Innovations and Future Directions in Home Visiting for more on precision home visiting approaches.

Researchers Find Association between Participation in Extended Foster Care and Reduced Risk of Homelessness (Chapin Hall at University of Chicago)

Extended care — allowing foster youth to stay in care beyond 18 years old — is intended to improve foster youth’s outcomes as adults. Because foster youth face disproportionate rates of homelessness as compared to other youth, providing them with stable housing while in extended care is crucial. This memo highlights a study to better understand “youth’s homeless experience and predictors of homelessness after the implementation of extended care” so that we may support policymakers and practitioners in securing appropriate housing for older foster youth and keep them from homelessness.

TexProtects’ Takeaway: The number of foster youth who face homelessness during their transition to adulthood is unacceptable. However, staying in care past age 18 decreases the odds of experiencing homelessness, as does increasing protective factors such as strengthened relationships and tangible community supports. In policy and practice, we must do more to ensure that foster youth have access to housing and programs that can better ensure their safety and successful transition to independence.

Exploring New Research on Pre-K Outcomes (Education Commission of the States)

“This Policy Brief analyzes 15 research studies on the effectiveness of pre-K outcomes in programs across the country and finds evidence of sustaining effects beyond kindergarten.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway – Pre-K return on investment is between $2 and $13 (depending on quality) with short- and long-term effects on not only academics but social emotional skills. This reduces grade level retention and increases on-time graduation rates. Investing in children early in their lives makes dollars and sense.

Being Healthy and Ready to Learn is Linked with Socioeconomic Conditions for Preschoolers

“Families’ social, demographic, and economic circumstances can have direct and indirect effects on children’s development.… The question addressed in this brief is whether children ages 3 to 5 from families of different backgrounds differ with respect to their health and readiness to learn.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway – A child’s environment and access to resources affect their development and ability to be school ready. To support our youngest Texans, we must support their families.  

Being Healthy and Ready to Learn is Linked with Preschoolers’ Experiences

“A preschool child who is healthy and ready to learn demonstrates the ability to regulate their behavior and emotions, key social and emotional competencies, motor skills, health, and early learning skills…. The analyses in this brief examine the associations between a young child’s experiences and the extent to which parents report that the child is healthy and ready to learn.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway: Experiences in the early years shape biology, behavior, and health across the lifespan. Preventing adverse childhood experiences while increasing positive parenting behaviors like reading and singing together, limiting screen time, and ensuring adequate sleep would increase the number of children who are healthy and school ready. 

Child Protection in Practice – New and Noteworthy

How to Help Families and Staff Build Resilience During the COVID-19 Outbreak (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University)

This guide uses the science of child development to suggest three ways in which we can build up and strengthen resilience to improve current conditions and plan ahead for future times of crisis.

TexProtects’ Takeaway – Resilience is not something we are born with – it is something that is built over time and in relationship with a healthy community. With the increasing stress on many families right now, it is more important than ever that we “tip the scales” by offsetting those negative experiences with safe communities, supportive relationships, and access to care when needed. If that balance is not maintained, chronic stress can have negative impacts on child development, safety, and health.

New tools released by Chapin Hall help health care providers address social needs (Chapin Hall at University of Chicago)

“Health care providers are increasingly serving families whose economic and social needs are escalating due to COVID-19. Today, Chapin Hall is releasing two Practice Bulletins with evidence-based tips on how health care providers can sensitively and effectively engage families about their social needs and referrals to ensure that they get the services they need.”

TexProtects’ Takeaway – Pediatric primary care is one of the strongest access points for families with young children. The opportunities of a doctor’s visit extend beyond vaccinations and check-ups. When physicians are able to engage with their patients about their social needs and refer to community providers if appropriate, that visit can decrease childhood adversity and better impact long-term health outcomes for families and their children.

Share:

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn

Providing Input to the DFPS Legislative Appropriations Request

TexProtects collaborated with the Child Protection Roundtable to provide budget input to the state

TexProtects has been working with our partners as part of the statewide Child Protection Roundtable to understand the effects of this pandemic on children and families, the possible fiscal implications, and the history of legislative budget cuts and their impacts in the past during times of economic challenges.

The Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) is the budget request made from the Department to the Legislature which details the funds that will be needed to continue their services for the next biennium. This LAR includes the projected budgets for Prevention and Early Intervention, Statewide Intake, Child Protective Investigations, Child Protective Services, and Adult Protective Services. One of TexProtects’ main focuses on providing input for the LAR was looking at prevention dollars.

Historically, when child abuse and neglect prevention funding has been cut, more money has ultimately been spent longer-term and there have been more confirmed child abuse victims. This is not wise-investment and not right for the children TexProtects aims to protect. We know there are strategies that work, and we worked thoughtfully and carefully with our partners to lay those out in our recommendations for the DFPS LAR.

Read the full Child Protection Roundtable DFPS LAR input below.

May 29, 2020

On behalf of The Child Protection Roundtable (CPRT), a consortium of statewide advocates, research organizations, health and education interests, direct service providers and other key stakeholders from over 50 organizations with child protection expertise, we greatly appreciate the opportunity to provide recommendations for the FY2022-2023 biennium Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) of the Texas Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS).

The Child Protection Roundtable serves as a convener for member organizations engaged in child welfare which share a child-centered, common vision and leverage data, resources and strategy to achieve more progress collectively than could be achieved individually. The Child Protection Roundtable works in partnership with DFPS, the state legislature, and other stakeholders to improve the safety, health, and well-being of children.

More specifically, the goal of the Child Protection Roundtable is to be the leading voice and driving force in child protection public policy and governmental action in Texas that:

  • Helps prevent child abuse and neglect before it occurs;
  • Ensures protection and well-being of children and youth who come into state care; and
  • Heals the ongoing trauma and other adverse consequences experienced by children and youth as the result of maltreatment.

In light of the public health crisis that has left so many in our state economically unstable, investment in the safety of our children at risk and in vulnerable situations must remain a priority. Please consider the following LAR recommendations for prevention and early intervention, supports for transition-age youth and young adults, children with developmental disabilities, Community-Based Care (CBC), CPS workforce, implementation of a trauma-informed system, and the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA). In several instances, we have recommended increased investment; however, we would not want any of these increases to come at the expense of reduced investment in any of the other areas as they are all important to the overall system and the infants, toddlers, and children of all ages, and families, being served.

Prevention and Early Intervention

To break the cycle of child abuse and neglect and reduce the long-term strain on our child welfare system, we need to break the cycle of cutting child abuse prevention funds under DFPS’ Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) division in times of fiscal challenge. Given the depth and breadth of the economic recession underway, coupled with stay-at-home orders and recommendations, we know from history that child abuse is likely occurring at higher rates even though reports may temporarily be down.

When the FY2004-2005 prevention budget was cut in 2003 by 35%, we saw a 20% increase in confirmed child abuse victims between 2004 and 2005. Once again, after the Great Recession in 2008-2009, we saw a 44% increase in confirmed victims in 2011. Maintaining our investment in prevention and early intervention is our best hope for avoiding yet another spike in abuse, associated costs, and strain on the CPS system.

Given the social isolation and increasing stress and risks for families due to COVID-19, the work of strengthening families and ensuring child safety must begin before a crisis occurs. Economic instability, domestic violence, substance use, and mental health challenges are highly correlated with increased risk for child abuse and neglect.  While mitigating the health effects of the virus is primary, these longer-term risks will continue to affect families and child safety for years to come. As such, investment in the front end of the system is needed now more than ever.

The investments made in these prevention networks are critical lifelines of support during this crisis and should continue to be rolled out through existing contracts with community providers. These prevention services will keep children safe now and save the state money later, with an average return of investment between $1.26-$8.08. Further investment in family preservation, or secondary prevention, also saves money.

As noted by the DFPS 2018 Prevention Task Force Report, “Diverting 5% of families from Family Based Safety Services (1786) would save the state more than $9.4 million. Preventing 3% of removals (593) would save upwards of $20.3 million.”

The Child Protection Roundtable encourages the state to continue to increase investment in primary prevention programs through PEI to prevent child abuse and neglect, strengthen and support families, increase connections to community resources, and decrease truancy and delinquency for older youth. The current PEI strategic plan indicates that to adequately protect families, a 20% increase in prevention funds is needed every biennium. Currently, DFPS allocates 5% of their budget to the PEI division.

To preserve families and decrease the number of children entering the child welfare system, the state should preserve and increase investments in the following:

  • Healthy Outcomes through Prevention and Early Support (HOPES)
  • Helping Through Intervention and Prevention (HIP)
  • Texas Nurse-Family Partnership (TNFP) and Texas Home Visiting (THV)
  • Family and Youth Support (FAYS)
  • Military Families and Veterans Pilot Prevention Program (MFVPP)

These programs have established infrastructure and community contracts/networks that can be leveraged to quickly and efficiently deliver proven programs to families who choose to enroll. To cut these programs would result not only in increased risks for children and long-term costs to the state, but local nonprofits and networks would be threatened, leaving even more Texans out of work and the state without a system by which to empower community family support and prevention programs.

Transition-Age Youth and Young Adults

The Child Protection Roundtable encourages DFPS to increase support for transition-aged youth and young adults. As DFPS has noted in the LAR for the current biennium, “[w]ithout such consistent services, youth are more likely to be involved in the criminal justice system, are at higher risk of teen pregnancy and parenting, have lower reading and math skills and high school graduation rates, are more likely to experience homelessness, and have higher rates of unemployment and likelihood of long-term dependence on public assistance.” Most services for older youth are federally funded through the Chafee program, which requires a 20 percent state match. The Chafee program allows DFPS to offer services that help youth and young adults pursue their education and employment, secure housing, and meet many other needs they have as they transition into adulthood. Unfortunately, DFPS has not had the funding to meet the projected needs of this population and those needs have increased substantially with the COVID-19 pandemic. The state should invest more in these youth and ensure youth who age out of care are able to succeed and receive support when they face crises.

Children with Developmental Disabilities

The Child Protection Roundtable supports ensuring access to long-term services and supports to children with developmental disabilities and their families in lieu of relinquishment of custody. These vital long-term services and supports include Medicaid-funded Community First Choice, behavioral supports, personal care services and Medicaid waivers. For its part, DFPS should provide access to training for families on how best to support the mental health needs of their children with developmental or intellectual disabilities, ensure Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) programs assist families of children with developmental disabilities to access needed long-term services and supports, and comply with the Texas Promoting Independence Plan by seeking funding for Medicaid waivers for children currently living in DFPS-funded General Residential Operations so children with developmental disabilities can either return home, or move to a family-based alternative setting. Further details on these requests are set forth in EveryChild’s separate submittal of input to DFPS.

Community-Based Care

The Roundtable encourages DFPS to request full funding for continuing Community-Based Care (CBC) operations and contractual commitments in the present CBC catchment areas and to support the continued expansion of CBC during the upcoming FY2022-23 biennium. CBC has demonstrated early promise during Phase I service delivery and recently began to move into Phase II case management in the first of the four catchment areas under contract. As CBC moves forward into further phases and additional catchment areas, it will be important for DFPS to have the necessary resources to advance multi-contractor system characteristics such as data management and interoperability. It will also be important for DFPS to have the resources and supports to assure accountability and transparency to all system stakeholders, building further confidence that CBC is achieving its promise, as we all hope will prove to be the case. To the extent the present level of available resources is not sufficient to achieve these vital needs, the Child Protection Roundtable encourages DFPS to request those resources and will support those requests.

CPS Workforce

CPS workers perform selfless work for children and families in the child welfare system, even under normal circumstances. However, in the midst of COVID-19, CPS workers have had to make dramatic adjustments in how they work with families. When the rest of us have been told to stay home and stay safe, CPS workers have been asked to go out and keep other families and children safe. In addition to adjusting their practice, CPS workers are facing some of the most challenging cases of their career as COVID-19 has only amplified the stressors and challenges in many families who were already struggling. To effectively ensure child safety, the CPS workforce must be adequately supported, including the provision of appropriate supports to address their own mental health needs resulting from secondary trauma.

Texas has worked hard to improve salaries and reduce caseloads the past few years. It is vital that caseworkers have the ability to provide families and children in care with targeted case management.  Cuts to CPS funding and salaries will result in more turnover and retention issues and will directly equate to declining outcomes for children and youth in care. The Child Protection Roundtable urges DFPS to continue investing in the CPS workforce by maintaining funding for their salaries and benefits and expanding secondary trauma services such as counseling complimented by debriefing with trained supervisors who can recognize the signs of secondary trauma and can refer for help when needed.

Trauma-Informed System

The Child Protection Roundtable supports DFPS’ continued leadership efforts to transform the Texas child welfare system into a trauma-informed and trauma-responsive system. DFPS was a leading partner in helping to develop the report Building a Trauma-Informed Child Welfare System: A Blueprint as part of the Statewide Collaborative on Trauma-Informed Care (SCTIC). There is broad support among Child Protection Roundtable membership and other stakeholders for ongoing efforts to improve training and use of trauma-informed practices throughout the child welfare system. There is also a clear understanding of the benefits of trauma-informed practices for children, families, and other system participants. The work of the SCTIC continues with the Implementation Taskforce, including the adoption of a DFPS rule to define trauma and trauma-informed care, and the creation of a website as a centralized location for information on trauma. The Child Protection Roundtable supports DFPS maintaining this priority in planning and budgeting for the next biennium.

Family First Prevention Services Act

The Child Protection Roundtable recommends that DFPS include adequate funding for successful implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) in its LAR Request. This funding should maximize opportunities to keep more children safely with their parents, prioritize placing more children in family-based foster care settings, and improve the quality of congregate care, especially in Residential Treatment Centers.

The DFPS LAR should include a placeholder for state funds needed to pull down a federal match to cover services that will prevent children from entering the Texas foster care system. DFPS should ask for state funds needed for more evidence-based substance use disorder, mental health, and in-home parenting skill building services. About 1.6 million Texans have lost health insurance during COVID-19 so far, meaning they might have lost access to mental health medications or other critical services that support children and their caregivers. During this difficult budget time, we encourage DFPS to maximize FFPSA dollars to help families at risk of having their child removed and placed in foster care. These investments will not only help families get through these difficult times, but they will also save money down the road in the budgets for CPS and other state services.

While crafting its LAR, DFPS should protect existing federal reimbursement for foster care placements by prioritizing strategies that would move children out of congregate care into family-based settings. When the FFPSA takes effect in Texas on October 1, 2021, Texas is at risk of losing federal reimbursement for its congregate care providers. The Child Protection Roundtable especially encourages three strategies:

  • Establish a kinship navigator program using FFPSA dollars to enhance support for kinship caregivers, who accounted for more than half of Texas’ placements during FY19;
  • Request funding to recruit more foster homes and anticipate increases in licensed foster homes resulting from the FFPSA requirement to align Texas’ minimum standards with the new model licensing standards, which may remove or reduce some barriers to licensure; and
  • Shift funding to Treatment Foster Family Care to serve more children with high needs in family-based settings. The Roundtable also encourages DFPS to ask the legislature to expand eligibility for Treatment Foster Family Care to older youth. Treatment Family Foster Care is only available to children under 10, and about 90 percent of children and youth in Residential Treatment Centers were 10 and older in FY19.

DFPS should also protect existing federal funding by elevating the quality of Residential Treatment Centers by requesting funds for enhanced provider rates and start-up grants to incentivize providers to meet the FFPSA’s Qualified Residential Treatment Program standards.

Federal Pandemic Emergency Assistance

We acknowledge the considerable recent and ongoing federal activity directed toward providing emergency aid and support to states in responding to the global pandemic, and we hope DFPS will take full advantage of these supplemental resources for their intended purposes as they are enacted and thereafter disbursed. Most if not all of the areas of concern addressed in this letter have been impacted by the pandemic, and our hope is that these supplemental resources will help Texas make continued progress across the child welfare system, building on the momentum of the past three sessions.

Conclusion

Thank you again for the opportunity to provide input on the DFPS LAR for the FY2022-2023 biennium and for the dedication of DFPS to the safety, health, and well-being of the children and families of Texas. We look forward to our continued partnership and a productive 87th Texas Legislature. For any questions or concerns, please contact Knox Kimberly at [email protected] or (512) 567-6929.

3000 Pegasus Park Drive
Suite 708
Dallas, TX 75247 [email protected]

TexProtects, The Texas Association for the Protection of Children is a 501(c)(3) public charity. Our Federal Tax ID is 46-1332547© 2024 TexProtects