Posted on 01/09/2005 3:03:19 PM PST by Dubya
SAN ANTONIO - Saying that Texas' child-protection safety net has become dangerously frayed, Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday called for spending nearly $330 million to hire about 800 new investigators and to drastically cut the workloads and boost the pay of caseworkers.
"This reform plan calls for significantly lower caseloads, better use of technology to assist workers in the field and a complete restructuring of the agency," Perry said in a San Antonio courtroom where he unveiled his much-anticipated proposal for overhauling the state's Child Protective Services division.
"And most importantly, it provides a new framework to better protect vulnerable children from abuse and neglect and to help those children pick up the pieces of their lives when they must be permanently removed from a home," he said.
The agency, part of the state's mammoth Health and Human Services Commission, has been under fire for much of the past year amid numerous reports of children dying from abuse and neglect even after caseworkers had investigated their families and homes.
The governor, flanked by the three lawmakers who are drafting CPS legislation that will be considered when the 79th Legislature convenes its 140-day session Tuesday, chose the San Antonio setting because at least eight of the high-profile cases occurred in Bexar County.
At least two Tarrant County children died last year despite a CPS investigation of their families. In one of the most dramatic cases in North Texas, a Plano woman is accused of severing the arms of her 10-month-old daughter Nov. 22 after being investigated by CPS workers and hospitalized for a mental illness. The child died from her injuries.
Perry said his plan to correct deficiencies at CPS was the result of a "top-to-bottom review" of the agency by Albert Hawkins, executive commissioner of Health and Human Services.
The governor said Hawkins' report was the most thorough examination of CPS in years and included detailed reviews of every task caseworkers and investigators perform, the amount of time spent on paperwork and other factors.
Perry also issued an executive order creating a Division of Investigations within CPS that would focus investigators' time on the critical job of receiving, reviewing and investigating reports of abuse and neglect.
"Investigators are the critical piece in the puzzle," Perry said."They are on the front lines of this effort, and if the system breaks down at the investigatory level, it breaks down across all functions of the agency."
Perry said that by hiring more than 800 new investigators, caseloads would be cut by 40 percent.
Scott McCown, who heads the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin, said the proposal is a good start that still needs work. Even though investigators' caseloads would drop from an average of 75 to around 45, they would still remain far above the national average, he said.
"We applaud the governor for directing a thoughtful plan that addresses our child protection system and commend [Hawkins] for making comprehensive recommendations that address all stages of service," McCown said. "But this plan is just a starting point. The key problem is that the plan calls for too little money and caseloads that are too large."
State Sen. Jane Nelson, a Lewisville Republican who is carrying CPS restructuring legislation in the Senate, said the governor's plan contains many of the recommendations she made as a result of several hearings she conducted as chairwoman of the Senate panel that oversees human services issues.
"Help is on the way," said Nelson, who was joined by state Reps. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, and Suzanna Gratia Hupp, R-Lampasas, who are sponsoring child-protective measures in the House. "We know what needs to be done."
Other elements of the governor's plan include:
• Bringing 21st-century technology to the agency, such as equipping workers with mobile technology so caseworkers can update files in the field, and Internet-based transcription services so investigators can spend less time transcribing notes and more time working with families.
• Hiring retired criminal investigators and law enforcement officials to assist in investigations and help coordinate joint action with local law enforcement so that "we not only protect children but bring justice to those individuals who abuse or neglect our most vulnerable citizens."
• Establishing a cost-effective health care delivery model for foster children that assures continuity of care, including providing health "passports," electronic files of important medical information that doctors can refer to when a child arrives at a hospital.
• Continuing to work with private sector entities that have expert knowledge about foster homes to place children in the right environment where they will be nurtured and protected. John Moritz, (512) 476-4294 jmoritz@star-telegram.com
Screw up repeatedly, get rewarded with less work, bettery pay. Yep, it's a government program.
Gotta disagree with Perry on this one. I'd rather see CPS abolished than rewarded for its incompetence.
LOL Well put.
I wonder if private Cos should do this job.
Hutchison for Governor '06
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