If the court doesn’t order it, is the state responsible for doing the right thing for their foster children? According to the State of Texas, no, it is not, and we, Kathleen and Robert Raskin, are here to challenge that.
While it is true that court action is often necessary to bring change in the system, in a moral society that cares for its most vulnerable members, it shouldn’t be. Although the 10,000 children in Texas’s foster care system have made great strides in federal appeals court recently with the upholding of much of a ruling that was meant to protect them, the state still has a way to go with regard to the rights of children who are caught up in the system.
What does the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling mean? It means the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services must:
- Train their conservatorship caseworkers better
- Caseworkers must visit foster children more often to ensure their safety
- More investigators must be brought on
- Cases must be investigated faster when a child claims abuse
- Caseloads must be managed better
- More residential child-care licensing investigators and inspectors must be hired
- Better quality and geographic dispersal of foster homes and treatment beds must be made available
- Workload standards must be established
The court failed to enforce the establishment of a 24-hour hotline foster children can use to report abuse, but without this hotline, children may not know where to turn for help. Texas, you are making progress, but you still need to do better. Get these kids the hotline they need and deserve!
Want to learn more about the state of the foster care system in Texas? The following videos tell the story of families who were failed by the system.