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Kidjacked | Jacked Up
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The highest ranking federal official in charge of foster care, Wade Horn of the DHHS, is a former child psychologist who says the foster care system is a giant mess and should just be blown up. Texas CPS News Archive
Texas News Coverage
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Waco Girl, Brother Who Drowned In Area Lake Were In Foster Care
A 4-year-old Waco girl and her 6-year-old brother who drowned Sunday as they played in the water in Lake Georgetown were in foster care and state officials say they have halted placements by the agency that put them in their foster home.
The two children were placed in a foster home on Aug. 2, 2013, in Cedar Park, Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Julie Moody said. Two other siblings, a 1-year-old-girl and a 22-month-old boy, who were placed in the foster home earlier this year, have been moved and the foster home is closed pending the outcome of the investigation, Moody said.
kwtx.com
July 7, 2014
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Couple arrested after 2-year-old foster child found wandering streets
A McAllen couple is out on bond after getting arrested when their after 2-year-old foster daughter was found wandering the streets.
McAllen police arrested Jorge and Carolyn Raygoza on child endangerment charges early Saturday morning. Court documents released to Action 4 News on Thursday show that the incident started off Business 83 and North 12 Street around 5 a.m. Saturday.
valleycentral.com
June 27, 2014
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Kids duct taped to beds at day care center
A Fort Worth-area day care center was under investigation for enforcing nap time by allegedly duct taping children to mats, officials said on Friday.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services launched an investigation of Heart2Heart Montessori Academy in Willow Park after photographs began circulating among parents showing a child wrapped in a blanket and bound to a nap mat by duct tape.
kswt.com
June 25, 2014
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Why Every Foster Kid Should Have an 'Electronic Backpack'
by J.B. Wogan
Ventura County, Calif., is home to roughly a thousand children who end up in the tough and disruptive world of foster care. These adolescents live transient existences, sometimes changing homes two or even three times in a year.
But officials in Ventura County have an idea that might help: Give every foster kid an "electronic backpack." The county announced in June that it will phase in a digital repository of health, education and juvenile probation records for foster youth that will be stored and accessed from one centralized location. While policymakers have sought for years to improve electronic medical records for the general population, the issue is particularly relevant for children in foster care, who tend to suffer disproportionate rates of physical ailments, such as asthma, dental decay and malnutrition.
govtech.com
June 25, 2014
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Flights Canceled--for Now--to Move Illegal Aliens from TX to CA
by Michelle Moons
Last-minute cancelations of two flights to southern California, each carrying 140 illegal immigrant children and family members, may only be temporary.
As public awareness grew and flight time grew near, U.S. Border Patrol has decided to cancel plans to fly the detainees from overcrowded detention centers in Texas to San Diego and El Centro to be processed. Breitbart News previously reported that the flights of 300 being flown from Texas to California were commencing in an effort to relieve the overwhelmed Border Patrol agents. Agents and resources are stretched to the limit looking after overcrowded detention centers full of illegal aliens, many of them children, from Central America. That has left the border even more vulnerable, less patrolled and susceptible to breaches.
breitbart.com
June 23, 2014
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Baby dropped off at Kilgore fire station in good health
Child Protective Services confirmed a clean bill of health Monday on the day-old little boy who was unexpectedly dropped off at a fire station just after midnight Saturday. CPS staff named him Noah Jax Henderson.
That law, also known as a Baby Moses law allows a parent to drop off a baby with no questions asked at a fire station or other safe haven identified with a state-mandated yellow sign. the child must be less than two months old and show no signs of abuse.
ktbs.com
June 23, 2014
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Report blasts child protection agency
by Eric Dexheimer
The state workers charged with investigating cases of alleged child abuse and neglect are so besieged by paperwork and other bureaucratic noise that they spend barely a quarter of their time actually interacting with families.
The report describes CPS, a division of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, as an agency adrift without clear policy directives, constantly scrambling to react to the latest crisis and so maladroit at managing its front-line employees that every year more than a third of them quit, costing the state millions of dollars and potentially placing vulnerable children at greater risk.
statesman.com
June 19, 2014
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Are We Overmedicating Kids in Foster Care?
by Dawn Post
A third of the kids in foster care diagnosed with ADHD have been treated with off-label antipsychotic drugs. That's too many children getting medicine we know too little about.
A recent study reported in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology reveals that one third of children in foster care diagnosed with ADHD have been treated off-label with an atypical antipsychotic medication. As a parent, would you consent to your child being prescribed an atypical antipsychotic medication? I submit that the label alone should raise alarm.
citylimits.org
June 6, 2014
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Indicted Fort Worth officer resigns from Police Department
by Deanna Boyd
A Fort Worth police officer recently indicted on criminal charges in Tarrant and Johnson counties stemming from allegations that he injured a child and recorded improper images of a woman has resigned.
Brice Cody Humphries, 25, handed in his resignation May 9. Tarrant County court records show that Humphries was indicted April 17 on a charge of improper photography/visual recording. A week later, a Johnson County grand jury indicted Humphries on a charge of injury to a child after accusations that he struck a 4-year-old female relative in the face with his hand at his Alvarado residence.
star-telegram.com
May 17, 2014
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Community Homeschool Center to host expo
The Community Homeschool Center will be hosting the first annual Bryan-College Station Homeschool Expo in June to connect new and seasoned homeschoolers to local resources.
The event will have vendors, seminars and local businesses that will provide information to help new and current homeschoolers. The expo will inform students and parents on how to get started with homeschooling, where homeschoolers meet and what sports and activities are available.
theeagle.com
May 17, 2014
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Security camera shows mother slamming toddler to the ground
by Jennifer Bauer
The boy's mother was recorded by surveillance cameras beating the 2-year-old and slamming him to the ground.
Witnesses say she dragged him across the concrete and up a flight of stairs. She was reportedly upset because the boy wandered away from her. A 2-year-old Houston, Texas boy and his 1-year-old brother have been placed with relatives while Child Protective Services investigates allegations of child abuse.
kansasfirstnews.com
May 16, 2014
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Police: Children playing in car
A Brownsville mother has been arrested on two counts of child endangerment after a vehicle her children were playing in almost struck another car, officials say.
The mother told police it wasn't her fault. Brownsville police spokesman J.J. Treviño said police who responded to the 1600 block of Monclova Street Monday because of a vehicle disturbance arrested Beatriz Martinez, 29, and charged her with two counts of child endangerment.
brownsvilleherald.com
May 14, 2014
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UPDATE: Former NISD teacher gets two-year sentence for indecency with a child
by Rosemary Smith
A Mexican national and former John C. Webb Elementary English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher has been sentenced to two years in prison.
May 7, Roberto Andaverde-Acuna of College Station, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of indecency with a child. District Judge Don Kraemer of Huntsville handed down the sentencing, after a recommendation by the District Attorney's Office. Andaverde-Acuna faced a possible sentence of as little as two years probation to a maximum of 20 years in prison.
navasotaexaminer.com
May 14, 2014
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Lawsuit threatens to impact reform efforts by CPS
by Terri Langford
On paper, Texas Child Protective Services, one of the nation's largest child abuse investigative and foster care teams, is a formidable agency, equipped with a two-year, $2.5 billion budget and about 8,000 employees.
But like most child welfare agencies in other states, it has had its share of adversity. After a series of horrific child abuse cases on the agency's watch, CPS underwent a decade of reorganization, pilot programs and internal audits, as well as admonishments endured by agency officials trotted before the Texas Legislature. Officials said agency reforms have made clear improvements.
amarillo.com
April 27, 2014
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Homeschool Family Expo coming to Klein April 12
by Peggie Miller
"The Woodlands Mommy" group scheduled its inaugural Home School Family Expo for April 12, according to Karen Logan, owner and marketing director of the organization.
The event will highlight interactive programs and services for students whose parents prefer to teach their children at home themselves. Such students in kindergarten through grade 12 get a chance to participate in a student commerce fair, student art show, and a career day showcase.
yourhoustonnews.com
March 17, 2014
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Newborn baby found in Houston dumpster
by Kathryn Yglecias
A newborn infant is rushed to the Emergency room after being discovered in a dumpster of an apartment complex in Southeast Houston on Tuesday morning.
Houston police say they were called to the Reserve at Windmill Lakes apartment complex off Almeda Genoa around 8:30 a.m. after someone found the infant in the dumpster.
myfoxhouston.com
February 25, 2014
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Texas senators split on how to address sharp rise in foster child deaths
by Robert T. Garrett
Senators disagreed sharply Thursday over how to curtail the recent spike in foster child deaths from abuse and neglect, splitting along party lines over funding and caseloads for workers.
Democratic senators said at a hearing on child safety that Texas Child Protective Services workers still juggle caseloads far above nationally recommended levels, while Republicans patted themselves on the back for recent funding increases and suggested less costly high-tech fixes.
dallasnews.com
February 21, 2014
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CPS: Family of slain toddler fled child-abuse investigations
by Domingo Ramirez Jr.
The parents of a toddler found dead at a Fort Worth apartment Saturday had been investigated for allegations of child abuse four times before and fled to avoid the most recent investigation last year, authorities said Monday.
Officials with Child Protective Services began an investigation on Jan. 2, 2013, into the family of 2-year-old Anthony Segora on suspicion of medical and physical abuse. But they listed the case as "unable to determine" because investigators could not find the parents, CPS spokeswoman Shari Pulliam said Monday. The boy was beaten to death late Saturday, authorities said.
star-telegram.com
February 21, 2014
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Investigating Child Protective Services
by Andrea Ball
Mistakes by Child Protective Services caseworkers over the past year contributed to the deaths of two children and the serious injury of another, while employees put numerous children at risk by failing to visit them and then lying about it.
statesman.com
February 9, 2014
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Custody battle over murdered man's daughter
There's a custody battle over the daughter of a man who was shot and killed, along with his wife, outside of a church in January.
Nathan and Krystal Maddox were murdered while leaving Mount Carmel Baptist Church near Colmesneil. They had just finished a supervised visitation with Maddox's daughter. Maddox was in the midst of a custody battle with his daughter's maternal grandparents. Ryan Deaton, Maddox's attorney, said he believes Maddox was about to get full custody before he was killed.
kfdm.com
February 6, 2014
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Fostering change - Odessa American: Texas Opinion
Time will tell if the state's foster care redesign, which is just being rolled out, equates to foster care improvement.
There are many valid questions as to whether the redesign tackles the most pressing issues in foster care and Texas child welfare, or simply adds another layer of bureaucracy to a stressed system.More clear: Foster care in Texas is underfunded and overburdened - a depressingly common combination in many states, not just Texas.
oaoa.com
January 13, 2014
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Child advocacy expert: Child Protective Services likely did all it could in Farrey case
by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Jackson Farrey's mom, has not yet left the Michigan jail where she and her husband, Jeff Farrey, were held as investigators searched for Jackson Farrey's body in the southern New Mexico desert.
The answer is not much more could have been done. As KFOX 14 first reported on Monday, 20-year-old Jenna Farrey has a history on child endangerment and abandonment charges. And child protective officials say she successfully completed the necessary steps from June 2012 until May 2013.
kfoxtv.com
November 22, 2013
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Cops, Teachers and Social Workers Busted in Child Porn Investigation
by Jg Vibes
Hundreds of state employees that hold positions of authority and deal with children have been identified as "extremely high-risk" pedophiles, after their child pornography habits were discovered in a massive undercover investigation.
Among the hundreds of state employees implicated were social workers, teachers and a disturbingly large number of police. Nearly 100 police have been implicated thus far. The US investigation, Operation Avalanche, was set up by the United States Postal Inspection Service, which investigates online porn. The most recent investigation began in Texas and has identified more than 75,000 people worldwide.
intellihub.com
October 22, 2013
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Senator West honored for legislative efforts to prevent child abuse
State Senator Royce West (D-Dallas) received the 2013 Children's Champion Award for his work to prevent and reduce the risk of child abuse in Texas.
The award was presented by Texas Association for the Protection of Children, during their annual fundraiser held at the Bush Library and Museum, located on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU), on Tuesday, October 15.
northdallasgazette.com
October 19, 2013
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West University Elementary students stage toy drive
Last year, 5-year-old Elijah was among 5,000 children taken into custody by Child Protective Services in Harris County. His mother was addicted to drugs and unable to care for him; with no electricity or water, their home was deemed unsafe.
Overburdened with too many cases, CPS caseworkers aren't always able to give children like Elijah the individual attention they deserve. Last week, families with students at West University Elementary collected six carloads of new toys, sporting goods, games, books and clothes-plus almost $1,600 in cash and gift cards-to stock Rachel & Gilbert's closet at the Child Advocates office. This closet holds gifts for children of all ages to provide them with birthday gifts. Often, these items are the first gifts they have ever received.
yourhoustonnews.com
October 3, 2013
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