This past week I had the opportunity to act as master of ceremonies for a press conference on Tuesday and to speak at a public hearing on Wednesday in Austin both concerning the treatment of minorities in the child welfare and foster care system of Texas. Testimony from both days
confirmed that minorities are unduly represented in the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (formerly Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services).
Both meetings can be accessed on the web:
·
March 23rd press conference
· Hearing of Select Interim Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care-morning and afternoon sessions
The press conference and the hearing affirm it's time for a change! While CPS pays lip service to keeping families together and legal requirements such as due process there are systemic problems that indicate otherwise.
Speakers at the press conference included:
· Gary Bledsoe, President of the NAACP- Texas
· Nelson Linder, head of the NAACP- Austin
· Ann del Llano, attorney for the ACLU
· Jerry Boswell, President of Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Texas
· Gary Gates, Founder of Texas Center for Family Rights
· Daniel Garza, spokesman for Cierkel and Associates law firm
· Irene Mason, a great grandmother whose extended family had been hurt by CPS
· Olga Alvarez whose family had been affected by CPS
According to Gary Bledsoe the treatment of African Americans in child welfare and foster care is a national problem. He cited statistics that African-Americans represent 30% of those in state care but only 12% of the population. He also highlighted financial incentives that promote increased removals of minorities.
Nelson Linder, head of the Austin NAACP emphasized the lack of due process and lack of legal representation of minorities that makes them more susceptible within an overly zealous CPS system.
Jerry Boswell cited statistics showing that a significant increase in minority adoptions could be traced directly to the passage of legislation authorizing financial incentives for those adoptions. He said the effect is "almost a potential bounty system."
Ann del Llano of the ACLU expressed grave concern that in hearings at the last legislative session CPS and law enforcement representatives admitted that they intentionally keep children away from all family members and relatives in order to build evidence in the case against the family.
Her testimony was confirmed by Daniel Garza who questioned a legal system so clearly built upon a conflict of interest: its stated goal is to keep families together but the very people designated to work for that goal are incessantly looking for evidence to tear them apart.
Gary Gates further amplified on the financial incentives driving the system.
One wonders how this system could possibly function in the best interests of the child?
The hearings the next day included numerous appeals to keep families together and to remedy the overrepresentation of minorities in foster care. I encourage you to access Wednesday's sessions to hear how TDFPS represents itself and some of the positive steps such as use of One Church/One Child an organization encouraging churches to get involved when families are investigated within their congregations.
Respectfully,
Peter Johnston
President
