Why is the Texas of Family & Protective Services failing the children of Texas? Simple. There is no parent advocacy. Children are removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect. You mitigate those safety concerns by advocating for the parents and helping them resolve those issues so children can go home or remain within the home. Although there are policies in place more geared toward family preservation and reunification, it is up to workers and supervisors to determine if children remain with the parents. That in and of itself is flawed because of bias and when a parent has no one in their corner helping to support them, they will usually always fail.

I was a conservatorship worker for the state for five years. I then promoted to supervisor with my local community-based care organization for almost 2 years. I know what it is like to work with families in crisis. I have seen the failures of community-based care, in particular; such as gross lack of training and a focus on adoption rather than reunification. I have worked with many good hearted workers that truly want the best for the families. I have also heard and seen the complaints from families who believe they have been treated unfairly; and they are correct. I have seen under-trained workers in the field who do an out right disservice for families in need because of their own bias about the situation and have fought with workers to change their mindset regarding a parent and their situation. I have never worked with a bad parent but I have worked with parents who made bad decisions and need help.

The focus of CPS is the safety and welfare of the child and absolutely it should be. However, when you have one worker assigned to the family after a legal removal, not only do they engage the family but the child. I have seen it all too often a worker get attached to the children they are working with and decide that the child is better off in the nice foster home they are in or being adopted rather than going back to a parent that lives in a camper.  They then began to lose focus on reunification efforts. They stop engaging the parents. They stop caring about the parents success because they see "better" life the child could have in their nice big fancy foster home. Before you know it, you’re at a termination trial and parents never see their children again. I have seen workers become quite biased in their work. This is not only morally wrong, it is ethically wrong. Children want to go back to their moms and dad‘s despite the mistakes their parents have made. The state is doing a disservice to these children by convincing them they are better off in their foster homes and better off to be adopted them to go back to their mom and dad who they love. If the parent is able to demonstrate they can keep that child safe, that child should be returned immediately.

There is also a major crisis in Texas regarding children without placement. More and more children are sleeping in CPS offices than ever before. More and more children are being shipped to facilities outside of the State due to lack of "beds". This should never happen but it is because the State will not go back and look for family to see if there is someone willing to take care of the child. Undoubtedly there would be less children in care if parents had an advocate. Children are appointed attorney's and CASA's in Texas. I believe there would be a higher rate of preservation (preventing removal) and reunification (reuniting children with parents) if parents were appointed or had an advocate in their corner. This should happen and happen now in order to preserve these families and stop traumatizing the children. CPS was never designed to be a parent. CPS should be a support.

Please sign and share my petition so that parents can get the support and advocacy they should be entitled to.