For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Peter Clark, [email protected], 512-417-9262
Contractor Pulls Out of Foster Care Redesign
Future of Expanded Privatization Program in Doubt
AUSTIN – Today the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), the parent agency to Child Protective Services (CPS), announced that Providence Service Corp. of Texas was terminating its contract to manage the first region in the state’s Foster Care Redesign program. Under Foster Care Redesign, a lead private contractor, rather than DFPS, manages the other contractors that are responsible for selecting foster homes, providing services to children in foster care, and performing other tasks.
Following the announcement, Ashley Harris, the Child Welfare Policy Associate at Texans Care for Children and a former CPS caseworker, released the following statement:
"The news confirms that if we want to keep kids safe, simply expanding privatization is no substitute for the legislature investing in child protection, reducing caseloads for child abuse investigators and other CPS caseworkers, and establishing strong statewide standards for screening and training foster parents. It should now be clear to everyone that just barreling ahead with further privatization isn’t going to work. It hasn’t worked in other states, and it’s not working in Texas. We can do some things on the cheap, but protecting a child after the state takes custody of her is not one of them.”
"When the legislature meets in January, it needs to start with the basics, such as giving CPS caseworkers the funding they need so they aren’t responsible for 28 or more vulnerable children at once. Fortunately, even before this latest news, strengthening CPS was emerging as a top priority for the next legislative session.”
Additional information on foster care policy and recent developments is available on our website, txchildren.org.
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Texans Care for Children has led policy advances for Texas children for nearly 30 years. The nonpartisan nonprofit organization serves as a voice for children, a source on children and a network for people who put kids first. Through policy analysis, statewide coalitions, grassroots campaigns and research, Texans Care for Children improves conditions for children in the areas of health, mental health, early opportunities, child protection and juvenile justice.