It appears that the Texas foster care system still needs a good deal of work, despite a federal order to overhaul the system.
As The Austin American-Statesman reports, last month 50 foster children were forced to sleep in Child Protective Services offices for at least two consecutive nights as they awaited placement.
The news comes even after Gov. Greg Abbott’s office has allocated over half a million dollars toward fixing the beleaguered system. The money was used to create more beds for children during those times of transition. Those beds, in Houston, Abilene, San Antonio and the Dallas-Fort Worth area, cost the state $400 per night, and they’re 95% occupied.
While the number of foster kids sleeping in offices has declined since last year, the goal is obviously to have zero children bedding down in the offices of state workers.
Patrick Crimmins, spokesman for CPS, said his agency is working on the problem “around the clock, seven days a week.”
