Read on Twitter
Iu2019m in Dallas today for a hearing in the stateu2019s class-action lawsuit. In 2015, federal judge Janis Jack issued a sweeping ruling that Texas had violated foster childrenu2019s civil rights by placing them in homes where they were systemically likely to be raped and over-medicated
Jack ordered several fixes to the system. The 5th Circuit court of appeals upheld some but not all of them. Texas stopped appealing the decision, and todayu2019s hearing was to check in on how the state is doing on implementing those fixes
The hearing was stunning. Judge Jack said state officials u201ccannot be relied upon for anythingu201d and are not u201ccredible in any way.u201d She found the state in contempt of court and threatened to fine the state up to $100,000 per day going forward if the state doesnu2019t make changes
At one point she threatened to throw someone from the stateu2019s foster care agency in jail over documents the state brought to court with illegible font
The changes have to do with 24-hr supervision for foster children in homes with 6 or more kids. Jack found the state has failed to supervise children and said Texas officials lied about doing so in court several years ago, hence the contempt ruling
There was also a dispute over Texasu2019 chosen man to do a study about how many children a caseworker should have on his or her caseload. Texasu2019 nominated expert has testified that workersu2019 caseload sizes have no bearing on childrenu2019s outcomes
Anyway, explosive hearing. Many choice quotes. Sadly, recorders were prohibited in the courtroom. Story coming soon
Story here on Judge Jack& #39;s contempt ruling and hammering of Texas child welfare officials. Check back for updates #txlege https://www.texastribune.org/2019/11/05/federal-judge-hammers-texas-officials-over-failures-foster-care-system/">https://www.texastribune.org/2019/11/0...
