Reply #83: Child Protective Services in Texas

[oldcoot]

The problem with Texas is not that Texas has more evil people than other states but that the state of Texas does not do enough to protect children. According to a story on "All Things Considered" (NPR), the state's Child Protective Services is underfunded and the social workers are often working extremely large case loads. Although I am sure other states have similar problems, the underfunding issue is especially severe in Texas because Texas rated 48 out of 50 states for spending money on protecting children from abuse.

Not surprisingly, Child Protective Services in Texas has a hard time attracting and keeping social workers. Social workers in Texas work long hours (up to 70 hours a week) and make very little money(approximately $30,000 a year). One of the social workers described her work week and the things she had to sacrifice in order to do her job.

The Republican-dominated legislature as well as the governor claim they want to fix the problem but it is unlikely that they will support providing Child Protective Services with sufficient funding because that might involve raising taxes. The state apparently even canceled a program to prevent child abuse.

To learn more about the problem in Texas, see http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4222497 and http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4222499 for more information.