The state’s child welfare agency has canceled its contract with EMPOWER, the private contractor that’s come under scrutiny in recent months for its management of foster care services in nine North Texas counties, according to an internal email obtained by KERA News Tuesday.

It comes after the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services asked a Dallas judge in March to appoint a DFPS representative to take over EMPOWER’s operations following the deaths of two infants and the hospitalization of another child under EMPOWER’s care. The process is known as receivership.

It’s not yet clear what led DFPS to abruptly cancel the contract.

Since 2024, EMPOWER has been responsible for managing foster care in Dallas, Collin, Ellis, Fannin, Grayson, Hunt, Kaufman, Navarro and Rockwall counties.

DFPS revealed in a March 16 petition for receivership that within the past two years two children died after EMPOWER caseworkers failed to properly monitor and assess the safety of their abusive homes. Another child was hospitalized after EMPOWER staff didn’t properly document his medical needs, and the boy was given medication he couldn’t have, according to the petition.

Following what DFPS described in the petition as “systemic failures” that created an “imminent danger” to kids in state custody, Purdy appointed George Cannata — a North Texas-based regional director for Child Protective Services — to oversee EMPOWER’s daily operations.

The receivership period was set to expire June 16 — 120 days after Cannata’s appointment, as required by state law. Before the expiration, both EMPOWER and DFPS asked Purdy in May to extend the receivership for another 60 days until Aug. 17.

Then DFPS, represented by the attorney general’s office, filed a motion Friday asking Dallas County District Judge Monica Purdy to allow the state agency to continue EMPOWER’s receivership through Oct. 14.

According to the motion, Cannata needed the additional time to implement and sustain corrective measures, further reduce safety and service-delivery risks and “complete a safe and orderly transition to either a fully compliant EMPOWER or an alternative long-term arrangement.”

“This requested extension is narrowly tailored in duration and scope and is necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of children in DFPS conservatorship served by EMPOWER, to ensure continuity of services, and to fulfill the purposes of the (Texas Family Code),” the filing reads.

This story is developing and will be updated.