Who Is Impacted
Families across our communities are being deeply affected by child-welfare practices that separate children from parents who are actively trying to rebuild their lives. These are not the parents who refuse to change—these are the mothers and fathers working every program, showing up for every visit, completing classes, passing tests, fighting through poverty, and doing everything they are asked to do, yet still face barriers that feel impossible to overcome.
The children are impacted most of all: babies and young children taken from the only home they have known;  placed with strangers, feeling confused, afraid, and disconnected from the people who love them most. Parents are left feeling helpless and hopeless when they are not offered real support, stable resources, or housing assistance. When families don’t receive meaningful help, the emotional toll can be devastating—separation anxiety, behavioral struggles, depression, relapse, and even suicidal thoughts. Society is impacted too, because broken families create long-term trauma that could have been prevented with compassion, guidance, and support.  What Is at Stake
What is truly at stake is the sanity, stability, and future of these families. Children deserve to grow up knowing their roots—their history, their identity, their culture, and the unconditional love that only real family can give. Parents deserve a fair chance to show who they are today, not be judged forever by who they were years ago. When reunification is denied to those genuinely working toward change, we lose the possibility of keeping families intact, healing wounds, and giving children the chance to thrive in the arms of their own parents or relatives. Without reform, we risk losing the opportunity for generational healing, family unity, and the chance for parents and children to build a future together. And sometimes we lose a life.Why Now Is the Time to Act
Now is the time to act because families in Texas—especially in communities like Nacogdoches—are expressing growing concerns about fairness, transparency, and support within the child-welfare system. Many parents feel that their efforts are dismissed, that poverty is treated like neglect, and that past mistakes overshadow present progress. Many families report feeling pressured, misunderstood, or destabilized by processes they don’t have the resources to navigate alone—especially when they cannot afford legal representation.
Right now, families need a system that uplifts, educates, guides, and really reunites them not —not one that punishes poverty, past mistakes, turns truths to faults. People can grow. They do change. And when a parent is working tirelessly to reclaim their place in their child's life, our system should recognize that effort and support it, not stand in the way. If we want stronger communities, healthier children, and a better future for Texas families, the time to reform and Fight 4 real reunification and grants to fund those families not foster homes. 

IN THE MATTER OF
Families impacted by the child-welfare system in the State of Texas
PETITION TITLE:
FIGHT 4 REAL REUNIFICATION: A Petition for Family Preservation and Support. 

1. Purpose
The purpose of this Petition is to call for reforms to ensure that children and parents who are actively working toward stability, reunification, and healthy family life are given meaningful support—not automatic separation—within the child-welfare system. This Petition urges legislative, administrative, and judicial action to restore and protect the fundamental right of families to remain together when they are engaged in good-faith efforts to resolve challenges, and to provide resources and pathways to reunification rather than punitive removal.2. Background
2.1 In Texas, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and its child-welfare branch (commonly referred to as Child Protective Services or CPS) are mandated to investigate allegations of abuse or neglect and to provide services or intervention as appropriate. 
2.2 Recent policy revisions reflect a shift toward more child-centred approaches and increased safeguards: for example, the CPS handbook was revised on March 3, 2025. Texas DFPS+1
2.3 Legislative proposals currently under consideration would tighten the conditions under which children may be removed from their homes, prioritize kinship placement, and make it harder to permanently sever family ties. The Imprint+1
2.4 Despite these reforms, many families report that—while they are actively participating in required services, demonstrating progress, and showing commitment to their children—they nonetheless face removal of their children, lack of legal representation, barriers related to past history (including felonies or past terminations), and no real access to stable housing or support programs.
2.5 The consequence of removal and separation without robust support can include separation anxiety, behavioral issues in children, parental stress, relapse into substance use, depression, or worse—and ultimately a deeper fracture in the parent-child relationship.3. Who Is Impacted
Children who are removed from a primary parent, guardian, or family member who is actively engaged in reunification efforts.
Parents who are actively participating in required programs (visits, tests, treatment), yet are unable to afford a stable home, legal counsel, or the ancillary supports that increase the chance of reunification.
Extended family members (grandparents, aunts/uncles) who are blocked from access or involvement due to past convictions or prior terminations, despite demonstrable change and stability.
The community and society at large, insofar as broken families and interrupted attachments contribute to cycles of trauma, increased public cost, and diminished outcomes for children.
4. What is at Stake
The emotional and psychological well-being of children being separated from parents and placed in unfamiliar homes or foster care settings.
The rights of parents who are making demonstrable efforts to remain connected with and support their children.
The cultural, familial, and identity continuity for children—growing up knowing their roots, their own history, and the love of their family.
The public interest in ensuring that the child-welfare system functions fairly, equitably, efficiently, and promotes reunification rather than default removal.
The prospect of long-term costs—both human and financial—associated with children placed permanently outside families when reunification could have been supported.
5. Current Legal & Policy Landscape in Texas
The CPS Handbook (DFPS) has been revised multiple times in 2024-2025 to update placement procedures, kinship-care guidance, casework standards, and notification requirements. Texas DFPS+1
Legislative initiatives in Texas would tighten the threshold for removal, increase kin-first placement, and strengthen permanency goals. The Imprint+1
Texas case law (and legislative pressure) increasingly emphasizes that termination of the parent-child relationship must be based on clear and convincing evidence and that reunification service plans must be capable of being complied with by a parent. connollyshireman.com
While reform momentum exists, gaps remain in accessible legal representation, housing assistance, relief from past history (e.g., previous felonies or terminations), and available grants/financial supports dedicated specifically to promoting reunification rather than removal.
6. Proposed Reforms
The petitioners respectfully request the following reforms be adopted by the appropriate legislative, administrative, and judicial bodies:

6.1 Family-First Support Framework Mandate resources for parents who demonstrate active engagement (visits, treatment, classes) to receive housing support, employment assistance, child-care subsidies, and legal counsel aimed at elimination of barriers to reunification.Establish state-level grants or programs earmarked for families in reunification status, not only for foster care or adoption.

6.2 Clear Reunification Pathways

Require that reunification service plans be drafted in plain language, with realistic, measurable steps, and that parents are given a reasonable time‐frame and access to required supports to comply.
Remove automatic disqualification or undue bias against parents solely due to past felony convictions or prior terminations, where present evidence shows rehabilitation, stability, and capacity to parent safely.
6.3 Kinship and Family Preservation Priority

Prioritize placement of children with kin or familiar family members whenever possible, unless clearly contrary to a child’s interest, to maintain family ties and identity.
Provide wrap-around services and supports for kinship caregivers and families in reunification efforts.
6.4 Transparency, Oversight, and Access to Legal Representation

Ensure parents have timely access to legal representation in reunification/termination proceedings.
Require case‐workers, supervisors, and legal counsel to provide written notice of rights, timelines, and case progression.
Implement third-party oversight or ombudsman roles to monitor cases involving long-term separation despite parental compliance.
6.5 Accountability Measures & Data Reporting

Require DFPS and CPS to report publicly the number of children removed from compliant families, the length of separation, the number of reunifications achieved, and barriers identified.
Provide funding for evaluation of programs aimed at reunification, and adopt best practices shown to increase family reunification rates and reduce unnecessary separation.
7. Rights Requested
Petitioners request that the following actions be recognized and honored:

The right of children to grow up in safe, loving, stable environments—preferably the home of a parent or family member who is engaged in good-faith efforts.
The right of parents who are actively working to regain or maintain custody to access meaningful support, representation, and fair consideration.
The right of families to be treated equitably under the law and policy—regardless of socioeconomic status or past offences—when current behaviour demonstrates capacity and commitment.
The right of the public (and judicial systems) to expect a child-welfare system that prioritizes reunification and family preservation, not default removal.
The right of the people of Texas to ask for and receive systemic reforms that reduce trauma, enhance outcomes for children and families, and make more efficient use of public resources.
 
8. Conclusion & Call to Action
For these reasons, the Petitioners respectfully urge judges, legislators, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, and community stakeholders to act now to support the reunification of families who are striving to do the right thing. The time for action is immediate—so that children don’t spend one more day away from the family who loves them, parents don’t lose hope because they lack resources, and our communities don’t bear the cost of preventable family separations.
We ask that Fight 4 REAL REUNIFICATION become not just a slogan, but a policy reality.

 
Submitted this __ day of __________, 20 __
Petitioner / Community Coalition: _______________________________________
Address: _______________________________________
Contact: _______________________________________

 
Acknowledgement: This petition is a call for reform. It is not a substitute for legal counsel in any pending individual case.

9. Inequities in Foster-Care Funding & the Need for Parent-Focused Support
9.1 Under current Texas policy, foster placements receive state funding designed to cover the costs of caring for children placed in their home. While many foster parents provide genuine care, the structure of the system inevitably means that funds follow the child after removal, not before, when the family is struggling and could often avoid removal with financial help. Foster homes may receive monthly stipends, reimbursements, and other supports to meet a child’s basic needs—supports that biological parents are rarely offered even when they are working to comply with their service plan, maintain sobriety, secure housing, or improve stability.

9.2 This creates a profound imbalance: the child-welfare system invests after a child is taken, but invests far less in preventing unnecessary removal or supporting reunification. Many families who are genuinely trying to regain custody—attending classes, completing treatment, passing tests, showing up to every visit—lack access to the very resources that would allow them to succeed, such as safe housing, transportation, treatment support, childcare, and legal representation.

9.3 Petitioners do not claim that all foster parents act with improper motives; however, the system’s financial structure can unintentionally create the appearance that a child is more “fundable” in foster care than in their own home. In many cases, the amount spent to support a foster placement could instead stabilize the biological family and keep the child safely with their own parents or relatives.

9.4 For reunification efforts to be meaningful, Texas should explore options such as:

Family-Preservation Grants for parents who are actively engaged and compliant with their reunification plans.
Housing-Stability Vouchers specifically designated for families in the CPS system.
Transportation and childcare assistance to remove barriers to attending services or work.
Redirected or matched funds that allow a portion of foster-care expenditure to be offered to the biological family first, if they are demonstrating consistent effort.
Incentives and supports for kinship caregivers, who often receive far less support than foster placements, despite keeping children within their own family network.
9.5 Texas must shift its investment toward keeping families together, not sustaining long-term separations. Children deserve the chance to remain with or return to their parents when those parents are doing the work, making progress, and demonstrating love and commitment. Economic hardship should never be treated as unfitness, and state funding should reflect a priority of strengthening families rather than replacing them.