Texas\u2019 move to privatize foster care has fallen short of its promises to revitalize a system meant to care for the most vulnerable children.<\/p>\n
In 2017, Texas shifted to a\u00a0community-based care model, handing over foster care services to private contractors. The goal was to keep children close\u00a0to\u00a0home\u00a0\u2014\u00a0near their schools,\u00a0neighborhoods\u00a0and support systems\u00a0\u2014\u00a0even after they were removed from their families.<\/p>\n
But the results tell a different story.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An analysis by The Texas Tribune<\/a> found that 1 in 3 foster children is placed outside his or her home region. That\u2019s an increase from about 1 in 5 children in 2016, before the new model began. Of those out-of-region placements, 67% came from regions that are served by private contractors.\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead of strengthening local care networks, the system is sending\u00a0a higher percentage of\u00a0children\u00a0farther\u00a0away,\u00a0cutting them off from the familiar parts of their lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n Vicki Spriggs, chief executive of Texas CASA, a program for volunteers who advocate for children in court, said that under community-based care contracts, children were supposed to remain within a 50-mile radius of their homes. For the most part, that isn\u2019t happening.\u00a0<\/p>\n Private contractors are struggling to find placements for children, especially those with\u00a0complex\u00a0needs, just as the legacy\u00a0state-run program also struggled.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even when children cannot remain with their parents, staying close to home\u00a0keeps them within reach of\u00a0extended family, other support\u00a0systems\u00a0and the\u00a0rhythms\u00a0of their daily lives.\u00a0Placements\u00a0farther\u00a0away break that connection.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kathleen LaValle,\u00a0president of Dallas CASA, told us that\u00a0when children are moved\u00a0farther\u00a0from home,\u00a0they \u201care more likely to feel lost and forgotten,\u00a0that\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0not on anyone\u2019s radar screen.\u201d<\/p>\n These are children\u00a0who are\u00a0already coping with trauma. And as the state has raised the threshold for removal\u00a0\u2014\u00a0meaning\u00a0those entering foster care often come from the most\u00a0difficult\u00a0and dangerous situations\u00a0\u2014 providers\u00a0may be\u00a0unprepared for\u00a0the\u00a0high levels\u00a0of care these children need.\u00a0<\/p>\n Supporters of privatization argued that local contractors would be more nimble and better able to meet community needs. But these contractors are confronting the same shortages of placements, staffing and resources that plagued the state-run system.<\/p>\n Foster care children\u00a0are being shuffled across regions, separated from siblings, forced to change\u00a0schools\u00a0multiple times and passed off from case worker to case worker. Stability,\u00a0the very thing they need\u00a0most,\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0part of this system.\u00a0<\/p>\n With all\u00a0of Texas\u2019\u00a0foster care expected to be run by private contractors by 2029,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0time to\u00a0seriously\u00a0evaluate\u00a0the transition to community-based care\u00a0and what can be done to build stability for the children. How can the state better support these community organizations in\u00a0finding\u00a0placements for children? What can be done to keep\u00a0children\u00a0close\u00a0to their home regions?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Foster care children deserve far better than a system that keeps moving them around, hoping something will stick.\u00a0<\/p>\n Have\u00a0thoughts\u00a0about this?\u00a0Send a letter to the editor\u00a0using our letters form<\/a>\u00a0or email\u00a0letters@dallasnews.com<\/a>. Letters should be no more than 200 words and include the first and last name of the writer and city of residence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas\u2019 move to privatize foster care has fallen short of its promises to revitalize a system meant to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28,90221],"class_list":["post-274160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-tp-editorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}