As Director of Child Protection Policy, Kate E. Murphy leads Texans Care for Children’s work to keep children safe at home through an effective Child Protective Services (CPS) workforce, prevention services, and other efforts, and our work to ensure child safety and success in foster care and beyond.
Since joining Texans Care for Children in 2016, Kate has played a leading role in proposing and passing legislation to improve support for pregnant and parenting youth in foster care, among other legislative victories. She is frequently invited to testify at the Texas Legislature, speak at conferences, and comment in the media about foster care, the Family First Act, and other child protection policy issues. Kate serves on the Texas Supreme Court’s Children’s Commission Collaborative Council and the Steering Committee of the Texas Child Protection Roundtable. She participates in several state-level or local collaboratives that focus on supporting young families. She is regularly invited to serve on workgroups that shape internal policies at the Department of Family and Protective Services. Kate is also a member of the Child Protection Section of the State Bar of Texas.
In addition to publishing op-eds, blogs, policy briefs, and other materials, she has published the following research reports:
- Parental Substance Use in Texas CPS Cases and Opportunities to Keep Families Together
- 8 Strategies to Address Parental Substance Use and Keep Kids and Parents Healthy, Safe, and Together (in collaboration with Adriana Kohler, our Policy Director)
- Fostering Healthy Lives: Strategies to Prevent Teen Pregnancy in Foster Care and Support Teen Parents in Foster Care (in collaboration with Adriana Kohler, our Policy Director)
You can see more of Kate’s work here.
Before joining Texans Care for Children, Kate was a Mental Health Policy Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, Texas. In that role, she developed and advanced policy solutions at the state level to address a variety of mental health, public health, and criminal justice issues. Kate graduated magna cum laude from Austin College with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science. She earned her law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law, where she was inducted into the National Order of Barristers for her achievements in oral advocacy and received awards for her accomplishments in constitutional law and property law.
