Lack of communication between child welfare and juvenile justice systems hurts foster kids, court monitors say

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The dearth of communication between Texas’ baby welfare company and its juvenile justice system places foster care youngsters in danger, Texas foster care watchdogs stated in a Wednesday courtroom submitting after studying {that a} caretaker accused of exploiting youngsters at a Bastrop shelter had been beforehand fired from a state juvenile justice facility for misconduct.

The watchdogs additionally expressed concern over whether or not Texas’ Division of Household and Protecting Providers absolutely investigated allegations that the identical caretaker had trafficked youngsters earlier than and that she was courting one other sufferer’s former trafficker.

The Refuge, a foster care facility for victims of intercourse trafficking in Bastrop, has come below fireplace within the final a number of weeks after a former worker, Iesha Greene, was accused of soliciting and promoting nude images of kids in her care. The watchdogs, appointed by a federal choose to watch Texas’ long-term foster care system as a part of an 11-year-old lawsuit, are independently reviewing the scenario. Greene has not but been arrested. Makes an attempt to contact Greene for remark have been unsuccessful.

The courtroom screens stated they’re significantly involved that Greene was employed after being fired for misconduct at a Texas Juvenile Justice Division facility, as The Texas Tribune beforehand reported. The Refuge leaders didn’t find out about her historical past of misconduct as a result of they didn’t confirm her earlier employment with TJJD.

The state requires state-licensed baby care services to conduct a legal background examine on all potential staff however doesn’t require them to confirm all former employers earlier than hiring new workers.

In Wednesday’s courtroom submitting, the screens stated the truth that Greene was employed at The Refuge regardless of being beforehand fired and barred from future employment at TJJD “revealed gaps in reporting abuse, neglect, and exploitation to the Texas Register that pose a major danger to foster youngsters.”

The screens identified that there have been greater than 100 findings of abuse or extreme use of power by workers in state and county services every year between 2019 and 2021. However these findings usually are not shared in a state database, that means staff fired for abuse or neglect in that system can discover employment serving youngsters elsewhere — reminiscent of at a foster care facility.

“That is deeply regarding,” the screens wrote. “As a result of the company doesn’t report substantiated findings to the Texas Registry, a state or county juvenile justice worker who has abused a baby of their care will solely seem within the Texas Registry in the event that they had been additionally arrested or prosecuted for the abuse.”

The screens additionally stated they encountered boundaries to reviewing sure interviews associated to the occasions at The Refuge. Whereas the screens have been granted entry to a number of video interviews of kids beforehand housed on the shelter, they stated they haven’t had entry to others and plenty of of their questions stay unanswered.

Particularly, the screens stated that they had extra questions after reviewing a half-page abstract of one of many movies, which detailed an interview performed by a baby advocacy middle with one lady at The Refuge. The kid stated Greene’s boyfriend had trafficked her at the very least two years previous to the interview and that Greene was additionally a trafficker. These accusations emerged throughout a Senate committee listening to in March.

The lady stated she noticed Greene “accumulating cash from younger ladies,” in an space in Austin identified for legal exercise, in line with the abstract. The lady stated she was afraid that Greene and her boyfriend would retaliate towards her for revealing that data to investigators.

The screens stated it’s unclear how Texas’ Division of Household and Protecting Providers has responded to a few of the allegations within the interviews with The Refuge residents, or whether or not the company has absolutely examined all out there proof to emerge from them.

The screens stated DFPS responded to their request for a video of the interview saying the company couldn’t present it as a result of Bastrop County Sheriff’s Workplace had the recording. DFPS officers stated the sheriff’s workplace responded that the video “is unrelated to what occurred at The Refuge and is a part of an ongoing legal investigation,” Wednesday’s courtroom submitting stated. DPFS stated it hadn’t reviewed the footage both and couldn’t verify whether or not the Texas Rangers, who’re additionally investigating the scenario at The Refuge, had performed so.

The screens stated DFPS investigators ought to have interviewed the kid themselves to evaluate her claims that Greene’s boyfriend was a former trafficker. In addition they famous that the half-page report doesn’t say when the kid’s allegations first surfaced.

“The half-page doc fails to incorporate data associated to something [The Refuge victim] could have conveyed as to who she made her outcry to at The Refuge … and when she made the outcry,” the screens wrote. “Each are crucial for figuring out whether or not The Refuge … ought to have reported the outcry and if that’s the case, when.”

The screens say even the brief abstract of the interview reveals issues.

“Whereas regulation enforcement, moderately than DFPS, would examine the underlying allegations associated to [the victim’s] trafficker and whether or not [Greene] bought medication in Austin, [the victim] herself touched on a problem that DFPS might appropriately have investigated: whether or not data supported [the victim’s] declare that [Greene’s] boyfriend (or somebody related together with her boyfriend) was [the victim’s] trafficker and, if that’s the case, how The Refuge got here to rent somebody related to a trafficker to oversee victims of trafficking.”

Interviewing the kid or at the very least viewing the recorded interview “could be crucial to this inquiry,” the screens wrote.

“Ongoing investigations reveal vital security issues associated to care offered to youngsters at The Refuge previous to the suspension of its license,” the screens wrote of their report. “There are troubling lapses in [DFPS’] investigation into these security issues.”

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