CHILD PROTECTION

Under a federal law known as the Fostering Connections Act, Texas recently began providing financial assistance to relatives when they became legal guardians of children who have been abused or neglected, cannot return home, or be adopted. This paper will explore whether these payments have increased overall permanent placements with relatives or have only led relatives to shift from adoption to legal guardianship, thereby increasing permanency through legal guardianships, but potentially decreasing adoptions. Early evidence suggests that while there have been increases in both overall permanency and relative guardianship, the proportion of children being adopted by a relative has declined.

On Wednesday, March 21, Senior Policy Analyst Jane Burstain, Ph.D., gave invited testimony at the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing on interim charges affecting Child Protective Services (CPS). Her testimony provided recommendations for reducing caseworker turnover, anticipating increased incidents of child abuse and neglect in 2012, and battling the affects of budget cuts for almost every type of CPS service.

We want our child protective services (CPS) system to keep children safe at home whenever possibleâ€"it’s better for the child and cheaper for the state and federal government. The reality, however, is that Texas (and every other state) spends most of its CPS budget on foster care and adoption. This report discusses why this disconnect exists and recommends ways to better align what we want with what we buy