In July, Texas cancelled its contract with Empower, the private contractor in charge of overseeing foster care cases in the Dallas area after the state determined the company failed to remedy serious safety concerns and had two infants die in its care.
Now, the state is transitioning Child Protective Services cases from Empower's management to that of two new private contractors, in a process state officials said would take several months.
"November 1st is when this transition will fully take place; Empower will be out of picture by that point and two new companies will come in," said Claire Ballor, a staff writer for The Lab Report Dallas who has been covering the North Texas foster care system. "That's the Texas Family Care Network, which will take over all of Dallas County cases, and then Our Community Our Kids, which will over the other eight counties in the region that Empower was in charge of."
While that transition is in progress, Empower is still overseeing more than 2,000 cases under state supervision.
Ballor shared the stories of two families with foster youth in their care who have been put in impossible positions before and during the transition away from Empower in her latest piece, "Dallas’ Foster Care System Unraveled. Foster Parents Are Living with the Fallout."
She joined NTX Now's Ron Corning to explain how the transition has been playing out and the impact it has had on foster families.
These interview highlights have been edited for length and clarity. To hear the full conversation, click the 'listen' button above.
Three-month-old Elijah was found under an overpass in South Dallas, malnourished and wearing a short-sleeved onesie. Courtney Craig agreed to take him in and made significant progress over the 18 months he spent with her. The same was true of his little sister, Zoe, who came to Craig as a premature newborn.
Then, Empower asked a judge to grant custody of both children to a family member who had a history with Child Protective Services and didn't even have a proper bed for Elijah when responsibility for his care was passed to her.
"What [Craig] explained to me was that throughout their cases, there were many concerning decisions that Empower made that she flagged to all parties in the case, decisions that were being made that we're putting these kids in danger, she believed," Ballor said. "They ended up being surrendered to [Craig's] care in a parking lot — abandoned to her for reasons that she had made clear were going be problems to Empower, but she said she wasn't really listened to."
Craig is now the legal guardian for both children, after pursuing a private adoption.
"But they have really compounded trauma and they have lost their state benefits because of Empower's decision-making," she said.
Ballor went on to explain that issues with how Empower handled North Texas foster children were well documented through state records, but the experiences of the children in their care were not.
"[Craig] had the means and the knowledge for how to fight for these kids, but so many don't," she said. "I've heard from quite a few foster parents who have made the decision to stop fostering because of how difficult it has been under Empower and how alarmed they have been over what's happening to children."
Ballor says the two, new contractors taking over management of North Texas foster care cases have already been doing this work in other parts of the state, but they'll be taking on significantly more cases than they've managed in the past.
When it comes to remedying some of the issues families experienced under the leadership of Empower, Ballor says, "It's really a 'time will tell' situation."
Ron Corning is a co-host of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
