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Child Protective Services 2011 Legislative Sesssion and Interim

  

Author:
Jane Burstain /(512) 320-0222 x119

November 3, 2011

CPS: Legislative Summary >>  
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly >>  

The 2011 Legislature lost the momentum of reform efforts from previous legislative sessions due primarily to a brutal budget session. And an anticipated deficit in the 2013 Legislature will affect work in the interim. CPPP has produced a series of policy pages that look back at the 2011 session while looking forward to 2013.

What's Next

• CPS: What's Next (PDF)
• In this report we highlight some of the issues CPS will face over the interim, including how to operate on a limited budget, before the next legislative session starts in January 2013.

2011 Legislative Summary

• CPS: Legislative Summary (PDF)
• The 2005 and 2007 legislatures comprehensively overhauled the child protective services (CPS) system, including additional funding for caseworkers and services. The 2009 Legislature continued the reform efforts, increasing funding to keep more kids safe in their own homes or with relatives. And again, to a certain degree, the 2011 Legislature lost the momentum of reform efforts from previous legislative sessions due primarily to a brutal budget session. This policy page highlights and summarizes the important pieces of CPS-related legislation from the 2011 Session.

The 2012-13 Budget

• The Good, the Bad, the Ugly (PDF)
• In the budget bills for CPS, funding for family-based protective services falls short by 30 percent, or about $51 million. But shorting family-based protective services will not save the state money. It will simply force CPS to send maltreated children who could have stayed safe in their own homes or with relatives into the more expensive alternative of foster care.