A federal judge has laid down the hammer on the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) with a hefty $100,000 daily fine for the agency's failure to properly investigate abuse and neglect claims within its foster care system. This charge stems from longstanding deficiencies that have placed innocent children at risk, as detailed in a striking 427-page order this past Monday. Judge Janis Jack of the U.S. District Court held the HHSC’s Executive Commissioner Cecile Erwin Young in contempt for not following through on mandated reforms to the investigation processes.
The move marks a third contempt finding against the state by Judge Jack since an original lawsuit was filed in 2011. Scribbling through the reports, the federal court has continuously wagged its finger at Texas for falling short of the mark. According to the Texas Tribune, the HHSC's Provider Investigations (PI) unit stands accused of failing to carry out "thorough, accurate, and timely abuse, neglect, and exploitation investigations." It is an issue that has seemingly petrified in place over the years, solidifying into a systemic failure that puts vulnerable children in harm's way.
At the center of this legal showdown are approximately 9,000 children under permanent state custody, whose personal narratives often underscore the most vicious cycles of abuse and neglect. They're the kids who've been torn from their homes due to a spectrum of horror—violence, unmet health needs, or the death of caregivers. The kids too often found in unsafe living conditions, overmedicated, or ignored when they cry out about abuse, as described by KXAN.
One particular case mentioned by Judge Jack involves a teen girl who, while at a residential treatment facility, weathered twelve investigations into allegations of physical and sexual abuse. This was a poignant example of the gravity and risk these investigations—or the lack thereof—entail. Her painful journey through the foster care system, as Paul Yetter, the lead attorney for the plaintiff children, relayed in a statement obtained by KXAN, "The judge’s ruling is measured but urgent, given the shocking evidence. Innocent children are suffering every day. After all these years, when will state leadership get serious about fixing this disaster?"
