By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX –
Comparing the state's protective service system to a house that has "completely collapsed," Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Lewisville) today saw her HB 6 pass out of the Texas Senate, saying the bill gives the state the tools to "build the house properly."
Nelson said her bill addresses the "crisis situation" the state is facing in both child and adult protective services.
At the Child Protective Services agency, Nelson said the bill will reduce caseloads, improve coordination between the agency and law enforcement, retrain caseworkers, increase prevention efforts and create a special investigative arm at the agency.
In the Adult Protective Services agency, Nelson said the bill will increase training for caseworkers and lower caseloads, while foster care will be addressed with a shift of more of the recruitment and training of foster families to local service providers who are already handling more than 70 percent of this function. She said the bill also will ensure proper dispensing of drugs to children in foster care.
Nelson said her bill is "repairing the foundation of a system that has totally collapsed" to "protect lives that in jeopardy." She added that the issues in the bill "cross every divide" from party differences to socio-economic differences.
"When our children suffer, we all suffer. When they hurt, we all hurt." She said when an individual's life is in jeopardy, that person should be brought to safety, adding that this bill provides a "clear path to safety for our most vulnerable citizens."
Before final passage of the bill, Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos (D-Austin) said that unlike some other reforms the Legislature has undertaken in recent years, "This bill is responsive to a real crisis." While he acknowledged that it represents "real reform," the Austin lawmaker said it should serve as a reminder of the "sometimes tragic consequences of trying to run state government like a private business." He said the state can privatize computers but it should never try to "privatize children."
Citing dozens of deaths of children and seniors in the state in recent years administered to by the state's protective services agencies, Barrientos said this "did not become a problem overnight." He said it was a problem during the last legislative session and now through the combination of "events, studies and news stories" the legislature has finally come to the realization that something needs to be done and is "trying to fix this terrible problem, treating it like the emergency it is."
Barrientos warned against what has seemingly become a "persistent push for privatization," something he said should raise red flags when Texas' most vulnerable citizens are entrusted to for-profit entities that answer to shareholders instead of the people of Texas. He also called the bill's making false reports regarding abuse a state jail felony a "disincentive" to reporting of abuse.
While commending Nelson for her bill, Barrientos said, "Serious reform requires serious resources," and said that to make good on the state's promise to Texas children and the elderly, "We need to fund these priorities. It took us too long to get here."