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I’m in Dallas today for a hearing in the state’s class-action lawsuit. In 2015, federal judge Janis Jack issued a sweeping ruling that Texas had violated foster children’s 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 today’s hearing was to check in on how the state is doing on implementing those fixes
The hearing was stunning. Judge Jack said state officials “cannot be relied upon for anything” and are not “credible in any way.” 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 doesn’t make changes
At one point she threatened to throw someone from the state’s 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 Texas’ chosen man to do a study about how many children a caseworker should have on his or her caseload. Texas’ nominated expert has testified that workers’ caseload sizes have no bearing on children’s outcomes
Anyway, explosive hearing. Many choice quotes. Sadly, recorders were prohibited in the courtroom. Story coming soon
Story here on Judge Jack'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/
