DALLAS — After multiple threats to impose contempt-of-court fines against the state agencies responsible for Texas' foster care system, U.S. District Judge Janis Jack will formally make that decision at the conclusion of a hearing that began Monday morning.
The plaintiffs in a 12-year-long class action lawsuit against Governor Greg Abbott, the Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHSC) requested Judge Jack to hold the defendants in contempt of court. The lawyers who are representing a number of children who were in the state's custody alleged that the state's foster care system is failing to protect the children in its custody, despite a number of orders Judge Jack issued in 2019 for the departments to implement for improvements.
The plaintiffs are also requesting that receivership be imposed on portions of the system, which would essentially be a federal takeover allowing for Judge Jack to designate individuals to run the part of the system that is placed in receivership.
In this week's hearing, the plaintiffs will lay out their case for why they believe the state should be penalized. The state's attorneys will have to show cause for why they believe the state should not be found in contempt or placed under receivership.
The plaintiffs are alleging the state is failing in six key areas that directly coordinate with Judge Jack's remedial orders:
1. The quality of investigations into abuse, neglect and exploitation of children with disabilities
2. Caseworker case loads in addition to requirements to work shifts to oversee children without placement (CWOP/Child Watch)
3. Providing foster children the necessary resources to report abuse, neglect and exploitation.
4. Medical neglect when it comes to giving foster children psychotropic drugs.
5. Making sure staff members who care for kids in case are trained to identify signs of sexual abuse.
6. Making sure that staff members who are in charge of children's care are aware of any history of sexual abuse
If the state is found to be in contempt of court, it will likely face a large fine. In 2019, Judge Jack fined the state $150,000 after finding that it was not ensuring proper supervision at facilities where vulnerable children were housed. Since then, there have been multiple threats of contempt findings but no formal move to implement them.
The hearing, which is expected to last through the week, began Monday. The plaintiffs called a number of witnesses to the testify, including an 18-year-old woman who aged out of state care in October 2023.
Jackie Juarez entered state care when she was 11 years old, one year after the foster care lawsuit was filed. During the seven years that she was in foster care, she was housed in a state-regulated facility that exists to serve children with intellectual disabilities, a psychiatric hospital and a number of unlicensed placements.
Juarez testified that when she was 15, she was in state-regulated facilities where she and other children were treated poorly.
"When we would misbehave, if we even cried about something, they would tell us when we misbehaved that we were there because our family didn't want us or because we're bad kids and no one wants bad kids," said Juarez.
She recounted instances when a staff member of the facility choked another girl at the facility while on top of her in an attempt to restrain her. She also remembered a boy whose arm was broken by a staff member who was trying to restrain him.
"They just put a little bandage over it and took him to the doctor and said he fell playing soccer," said Juarez.
When she was still 15, Juarez said her caseworker got her an iPod for Christmas, the iPod has messaging capabilities, and she said a male staff member began sending her frequent messages.
"That I look cute, and he likes my personality," Juarez said. "He kept texting me morning and night... asking what I was doing."
Juarez said the messages made her uncomfortable.
"I already had trauma with my stepdad. I didn't trust men," said Juarez.
Juarez said that when she showed the messages to staff at the facility, they took her iPod from her and made her feel bad. She also got into a fight with another child in care who she said was accusing her of framing an innocent man.
Shortly after the altercation, she was taken to a psychiatric hospital.
"When they dropped me off there, they told me it was because they didn't want me anymore," said Juarez.
Once she was released from the psychiatric hospital, Juarez was placed in multiple unlicensed facilities, including a church, three office buildings and three hotels. The issue of unlicensed housing for what the state calls "children without placement"/CWOP or "child watch" is an issue Judge Jack has addressed in multiple hearings.
During her time in unlicensed housing, Juarez said she witnessed girls messaging with adult men they met on social media and asked them to come pick them up from the facilities. She also said the boys in the facilities ran away.
"All of them ran away," Juarez said. "One of them got shot."
Juarez said she also ran away after getting beat up by other girls in the facilities multiple times.
Some of Jaurez's case files were presented as evidence in the case. Her file stated that she missed a lot of school.
Juarez said that she missed school because she was sleepy due to the multitude of psychotropic drugs she was prescribed, including drugs for asthma, panic attacks, seizures, bipolar disorder and sleep.
Juarez said her concerns about her medication went ignored while she was in state custody. As an adult, she is not on medication and has not been diagnosed with any psychological conditions.
"I feel happy," Juarez said. "I'm able to process things more. I'm not tired."
Juarez told the court that she felt like she was fighting for her life while she was in the state's care, and she became emotional at the end of her testimony when asked why she agreed to the take the stand.
“Kids need to be heard, and things need to change for everyone," Juarez said. "We need a change because everyone tells you, 'Oh, CPS is going to take care of you.' Just like, they let me down, they let a bunch of kids down."
The defense did not present any questions for Juarez.
Another compelling witness that was called up on Monday was Hannah Reveile, who was a caseworker for children in state care for 18 months before she resigned in June.
"It was the hardest decision I've ever made, to leave my kids, but my life has improved significantly," said Reveile.
Reveile detailed her time working for the state as a caseworker, she detailed a lack of training for giving psychotropic drugs to children, de-escalation and supervising children while they're in unlicensed facilities.
She also detailed the impact of working overtime shifts to monitor children in unlicensed facilities, which included hours-long drives and lack of preparation for the stressful situation she'd be met with once the shift started.
"Besides my blood pressure being four points from hypertension, it was almost impossible to get through a shift. It would be scary," said Reveile.
She also complained about a lack of response when she reported that one of the children she managed had been abused.
She said the girl, who was 18 but with a cognitive function of a 5 to 8-year-old child, was being housed in a state-regulated facility in Dallas. Reveile said she suspected the girl was having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a male staff member at the facility. When she reported it to the state, Reveile said she never received a response.
Reveile said the girl was eventually kicked out of the facility because she was acting out, after what Reveile believes to have been sexually assaulted.
That specific girl had previously been assaulted after she walked out of an unlicensed setting and met a stranger who drugged her. Reveile said that stranger, along with others, assaulted her.
"She just destabilized from there," Reveile said. "She never had consistent treatment because she had to move so many times."
Reveile said that Stephanie Muth, the commissioner of the Department of Family Protective Services, shadowed her while she was working and asked her and her colleagues about their concerns. Reveile said Muth told her she acknowledged that CWOP placements were unsafe and said she would get rid of them.
When Judge Jack asked Commissioner Muth if she said that, Muth responded, "I believe what I said I was working to end CWOP."
Muth said she did not recall saying the placements are unsafe.
Reveile said her decision to resign came after the state failed to find a placement for an 8-year-old with severe special needs and planned to place him in a hotel.
"I was mad," said Reveile.
The other three witnesses who testified Monday were:
- Stephen Pahl, the deputy executive commissioner for regulatory services for HHSC
- Erica Banuelos, associate commissioner for Child Protective Services (CPS)
- Kason Vercher, director of residential contracts for DFPS
Questioning from Paul Yetter, one of the attorneys representing the children, centered on the state agencies policies for issues, including psychotropic drug monitoring, caseworker assignments for monitoring CWOP placements and guidelines for conducting investigations into allegations of abuse, neglect or exploitation of children with intellectual disabilities who are housed in state-regulated facilities.
A common theme was frustration from Judge Jack when the witnesses, who are all high up on the organizational charts for their respective agencies, were unable to answer questions about specific procedures, numbers and details about the operations.
Pahl was tasked with answering questions about why HHSC implemented recent policies that direct investigators to not include their reasoning when they decide an investigation is either "inconclusive" or "unconfirmed".
A previous report from the court-appointed monitors found that a child was taken to the emergency room with her jaw broken in two places after she was hit in the face by a staff member at a state-regulated housing facility. That child had previously reported that she was raped by a male staff member. She remained in that placement for months following that outcry, while Provider Investigations (PI) investigated the situation under HHSC jurisdiction.
The report said the child had made a total of 12 outcries from the facility.
PI did not find that there had been abuse and neglect in the girl's case after an investigation that took nine months, despite the number of outcries that she had made.
The man she accused of raping her was later convicted for raping his stepdaughter and was found to be abusive in an investigation conducted by Child Protective Investigations (CPI), which has separate jurisdiction.
When asked why PI, which is a branch of HHSC, directs investigators to not give the reasoning for their findings and why they don't record statements from children, Pahl said he did not know.
"Sitting here today, I can't think of any," Pahl said, when asked for a reason that would justify those policies.
Pahl also did not have answer for why PI does not consider an operation's history when its being investigated.
However, he said it is something the agency is working to address. He also said HHSC has implemented a new tracking process to better track the timeline of investigations to address a historic lag in investigation times that leave vulnerable children in potentially dangerous situations.
Day two of the hearing will start on Tuesday at 9 a.m.