AUSTIN, Texas – For the first time ever, the State of Texas will have an advisory committee overseeing Child Protective Services (CPS) investigations and training thanks to a new state law that passed during the latest legislative session.
“The advisory committee will be tasked with identifying what’s working and what’s not working, but also be tasked with coming up with proposed solutions,” said child welfare consultant Carrie Wilcoxson.
Wilcoxson, a former CPS investigator, wrote the legislation and state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) sponsored it.
Wilcoxson said this will cement another law she wrote in 2023 that created new training standards for CPS investigators. The standards went into effect in March 2024.
KSAT referenced that bill in a previous story in February.
Previous training bill
The tightened training standards weeded out cases that didn’t warrant full investigations.
“We know from the data that the department was getting over 51 percent of their original investigative findings wrong,” Wilcoxson said. “That means parents that lost their parental rights that should not or parents that experienced child abuse removals that should not.”
The new standards resulted in 20,000 fewer CPS cases, meaning investigators could focus on the children that were in serious trouble.
Some people worried that with fewer investigations, more kids would fall through the cracks. However, the opposite happened.
State data shows child abuse deaths and child deaths in general are down for the third year in a row.
Now, there will be a new advisory committee to make sure that downward trend continues.
New advisory committee
“The advisory committee is going to help ensure that all of the different regions that are part of the department, that we’re all doing it the same,” Wilcoxson said.
District 18 Senator Lois W. Kolkhorst sponsored the bill and sent KSAT a statement saying, “The goal of House Bill 140 is to assemble the right experts in the room to conduct a systematic review of child protection investigations and to make that process as consistent as possible in every part of Texas. We want to ensure that parental rights are not trampled on, but also know that children in abusive situations can receive proper help.”
There will be 13 members on the committee.
“Parents, investigators, supervisors, regional directors, judges, attorneys that have represented both children and parents, DA’s (district attorney’s) offices,” Wilcoxson said.
Wilcoxson said she wrote the law to make sure the board is well-rounded, and people from all sides of child welfare will have a say.
“Over the last several years, my colleagues and I were made aware of situations where parents were falsely accused of child abuse or neglect, and subjected to arduous and costly investigations, while their children were needlessly sent to foster care. These cases create tremendous trauma on families and children,” Senator Kolkhorst’s statement continued.
A main goal of the committee for everyone involved, is providing accountability.
The state has begun accepting applications for people to serve on the advisory committee.
Second new law passed this session
Wilcoxson wrote another child welfare bill during this past session that also became law.
It adds protections during hearings for families being investigated.
Senate Bill 1141 was written to piggyback off of a bill from 2023, which requires any parents being investigated to be presented their rights both verbally and in writing.
“The system, while it’s not intentional, systematically targets a certain social economic group are indigent and less educated individuals,” Wilcoxson said. “Those individuals can get caught up in a system and have their parental rights unnecessarily at risk just because they don’t understand that they have these rights. And so, this is making a difference.”
The new law just passed mandates that before a hearing starts, a judge will make sure a defendant was read their rights at the beginning of the investigation.
While it seems like a simple addition, Wilcoxson said it’s making a big difference in making sure people within the justice system understand the family’s rights, as well.
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