Texas’s foster care system is broken, and putting vulnerable kids into privatized care isn’t going to fix it. We are Robert Raskin and Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, and if the CPS system has left you feeling helpless and hopeless, we want you to know you are far from alone. We are working to raise awareness of the need for a system of checks and balances in the corrupt, inept agencies that are meant to protect children. We are against privatized care because no such system can be put in place when we hand kids over to agencies that work for profits.
Texas, what are you thinking? The children in state’s custody suffer the consequences of mismanagement, understaffing, underfunding, and a high turnover rate that leave them without any stable source of support. This is an issue that has persisted in the state for decades, and because of this one federal judge in Corpus Christi demanded changes, stating that children who leave State custody often come out “more damaged than when they enter.”
It has been estimated that child protective services workers in Texas spend just 26% of their time visiting children. Currently, 43% of caseworkers are managing at least 21 cases, which is far more than the recommended standard. Neglect and abuse investigations are being delayed, kids are being placed in hotels and mental health facilities, the rates of death for children in the system is climbing, and approving an extra $500 million in the budget for foster care hasn’t helped. Bureaucratic lapses are putting children at risk, and it’s inexcusable.
We need an immediate overhaul of Texas’s foster care system, and the last thing our kids need is to be thrown into for-profit care that will always prioritize the numbers over the children. Putting kids into private care will mean relying on self-reported statistics to determine whether or not they’re receiving the level of care they need. It will diminish transparency in the system right when we need it more than ever before.
The state is expected to begin the process of moving to privatization in the near future. It’s time to put a stop to it. Write your legislators and let them know that you want vulnerable children to be placed in situations where their safety can be measured and tracked, with someone other than the people who have everything to gain financially advocating for them.
Opposing privatized foster care in Texas.
Why children are dying at an alarming rate in for-profit foster care.