The mother of the girl, Natalie Rose Munno, 38, has been arrested on charges of abandoning a child.

Texas Health and Human Services could face $100,000-per-day fines for violating a judge's orders. The state wants the judge off the case.

The move is designed to reduce some of the rotating overtime shifts expected of agency caseworkers at group homes and motels, which have been criticized as dangerous for the children who live there.

U.S. District Judge Janis Jack on Monday considers whether state’s foster care agency has made progress caring for most vulnerable children or should be held in contempt for the third time in an ongoing 2011 lawsuit.

A report from Department of Family and Protective Services watchdogs paints a picture of a roughshod safety-net system that is unprepared to protect its youthful charges from predators and unable to keep them from endangering themselves.

Lawmakers were assured that outsourcing management of foster care services would fix the state’s troubled child welfare agency. But the rollout of the new model, set to be completed by 2029, has been complicated by setbacks.

House Bill 63 is an attempt to reduce the amount of vindictive or false child abuse reports made to the state, but child advocates say it will deter valid reports, too.

Texas lawmakers and a federal judge say attorneys in the case against the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services should not hire lobbyists using funds won in court.

The judge warned the state could be held in contempt of court for not following through with three mandates: youths not knowing their rights, not adequately responding to abuse allegations and still having too many children without placement.

A report revealing serious problems with the Texas CPS removal process is the basis of a new bill that was recently filed in the Legislature, which would require far more extensive training for CPS case workers.

Former DFPS commissioner Anne Heiligenstein was tapped by Abbott in June to serve as the agency’s executive deputy commissioner. Last month, she was out. Now she’s back.

Residential treatment centers are meant to be a last resort for children in the state’s care, reserved for those with histories of severe trauma caused by neglect or abuse.

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services leaders instructed employees to avoid written communications about the cases and barred low-level employees from handling the investigations, according to internal agency communications.

A spokesperson told The Texas Tribune that all employees are trained before supervising youth. DFPS Commissioner Jaime Masters apologized to the child and her mother.

Candidates hardly ever talk about improving the safety net for kids — unless the holes in the safety net have become big enough to get the attention of voters.

Most of the deaths were attributed to “preexisting medical conditions” or abuse suffered before the children entered the system, according to the DFPS report. The numbers are on par with those reported in previous years.

In this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Reese and Mitchell about the fallout from sexual abuse allegations at a state-contracted children’s shelter and Russian threats against Texas’ energy infrastructure.

Some child welfare workers in Texas say they’re quitting over a new directive that allows abuse investigations into parents of transgender kids.

The Department of Family and Protective Services has been under federal court monitoring for over a decade for violating the civil rights of kids in foster care. Now, the short-staffed agency has to investigate parents who provide their children with gender-affirming care.

The children were sexually abused and neglected while at The Refuge, a facility located in Bastrop contracted by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, according to a report from a current employee.

A Texas judge was scheduled to consider a statewide injunction on investigations of parents over obtaining gender-affirming care. The appeal now puts the hearing on hold.

The parents of a transgender teenager in Texas say in a lawsuit that the state is investigating them after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered officials to look into reports of gender-confirming care for kids as abuse.

Abbott said gender reassignment surgery constitutes child abuse under existing state law.

The chief of staff for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has resigned, weeks after a lawsuit accused him of sexual harassment and making repeated sexual advances toward a female subordinate who later left the agency.

Children in the custody of the state are no longer allowed to be housed at The Children’s Shelter after the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services terminated its contract with the shelter for its General Residential Operation.

The federal judge overseeing the decadelong lawsuit against Texas for conditions in its foster care system cut this week’s hearing short. She proposed all parties involved, including the governor, “cut to the chase” to identify solutions.

Medical experts say gender affirming care for transgender children rarely, if ever, includes use of the surgeries Abbott cited in his letter to the head of the Texas Department of Family Protective Services.

Gender-affirming care, which leading health care organizations in Texas say is the best way to provide care to transgender children, is emerging as a top target of state Republicans and lies at the heart of brewing political and legal battles.

Children’s Shelter furloughs nearly 70 workers after emergency shelter put on hold by state, furlough to go into effect on May 5.

The Children’s Shelter in San Antonio has until 5 p.m. Monday to find new homes for its children after the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services issued a placement hold due to “unacceptable” conditions and an ongoing capacity problem.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbot on Wednesday called for the closing of San Antonio’s temporary housing for migrant children due to allegations of sexual abuse, understaffing and COVID-related concerns.

Data released this month by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services shows an increase in child abuse and neglect deaths in 2020, a jump from the previous two years.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services offices in Austin on Nov. 14, 2019. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas TribuneTwo years after U.S. District Judge Janis Jack ordered a long list of reforms for the Texas foster care system, state health and human services officials have made some improvements. In a quick morning hearing, Jack said she will give state officials until May to make progress on all of her orders, which resulted from a now decade-long lawsuit against the state filed by representatives for the more than 15,000 children in foster care in Texas. Greg Abbott’s recent budget proposal, he recommended that the Texas Legislature fund requests from child welfare officials to help reform the foster care system. “The agencies must be able to continue their efforts to protect children in the state's managing conservatorship from abuse and neglect,” Abbott wrote. None of the roughly 250 Texas facilities that provide 24-hour care for multiple children meet these requirements, Jack said.

Rachel Galvan, a child safety specialist for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, says it’s heartbreaking to read the reports each year related to unsafe sleep investigations during these winter months. Babies should sleep, “A” alone, on their “B” back and in a “C” crib to help reduce their chance of death, Galvan explains. Each year, Texas CPS sees an average of 158 unsafe sleep deaths. Since December 1st, the state reports 31 unsafe sleep death investigations and 12 of them are in Region 8, which includes Bexar County. “It’s a generational practice where families do sleep closely with all the siblings, the children and both parents are all sleeping together,” she said.

“Then, we found out there were four other siblings,” Jamie Hejduk said. Heather Hejduk said she thought their caseworker was joking when she asked the couple if they wanted all six. To add six children to four of their own was a family decision, Heather Hejduk’s husband said. “They just fit in our family,” Heather Hejduk said. “Little did she know her little sister wasn’t born till she was 16, and she didn’t meet her until last year,” Heather Heyduk said.

Her announcement followed a two-day hearing, held by video conference, in which she frequently chided some of Texas top child welfare bureaucrats. Jack also urged state officials at the hearing to improve communication between two separate state agencies: one that oversees children in foster care, and one that licenses homes and facilities that house large numbers of foster children. Throughout the hearing, Jack echoed concerns raised by two-court appointed monitors in a 363-page report released in June that detailed substantial threats to childrens safety, particularly in large, privately-run foster homes. Texas foster care officials testified Thursday that they had recently stopped placing children in one facility where monitors identified problems. The home has yet to have its license pulled, though state officials indicated that was a possibility.

San Antonio The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is desperately looking for foster families in rural communities west of Bexar County. How a San Antonio foster care campus is getting creative amid COVID-19 pandemicCheronda Tillman, a foster care and adoption recruitment specialist, said it has always been challenging to recruit in rural communities. Its always been an issue trying to increase capacity when it comes to finding families that reside in those 27 counties surrounding Bexar, especially turning our attention to our rural west, she said. However, in rural communities recruiting is more personal, she said. Upwards -- somewhere around 200 children will come into the foster care system each and every month.

Suppose the child is one of many, and that the system putting them in danger is run by the state of Texas. Thats a reasonable description of foster care in Texas in 2020. Its in a report completed last week a description of a system run by state government right now. The report is full of the stories of foster children the state has failed. A 6-year-old in foster care when this lawsuit was filed is now 17 or 18 years old.