The state has too many foster kids in its care and not enough places to house them.
Child Protective Services and Family Protective Services refers to these kids as children without placement or CWOP. CWOPs are often put up in hotels or motels.
“The foster care system is broken,” said state Senator Jose Menendez.
“It’s gotten so bad now that we’re in crisis,” said Bexar County District Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez.
Menendez said the reason it’s hard to find placement is that on top of the lack of availability, many of these kids are older, they’re dealing with some sort of mental health issues and many have gone through abuse.
“These are kids that are very difficult for someone to say, ‘yeah sure, bring them here’ and unfortunately that’s what’s causing this problem,” said Senator Menendez.
This problem is also leading to safety issues for the kids. This week on the Northwest Side, a 15-year-old girl in CPS’ care was grazed on the neck by a bullet. She had snuck away from the employees who were supposed to be taking care of her.
This brought up another issue for Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez. She stated employees are overworked, undertrained and don’t have enough resources.
“We’re putting the health and mental of these case workers at risk because they’ve become front line workers trying to manage high level needs kids in motels and hotels,” said the Judge Speedlin Gonzalez.
District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda said a hopeful and potential turning point is that the city and county have $26 million that will be allocated to address mental health issues.