Dallas is an ever growing and bustling city. However the city is still behind on some very important issues. This includes the problem of foster care. Thousands of foster care children are left to fend for themselves in the system because the system lacks the resources and manpower to do something about it. Dallas may be growing and moving forward but the Foster care system is falling behind. The Dallas Morning News claims that according to Judge Janis Graham Jack three children died in the state’s foster care system because of lack of care and neglect. It doesn’t help that the biggest of the states foster care problems come mostly from Dallas. With the current times of the coronavirus pandemic reaching new highs in the nation especially in all of Texas and Dallas it’s getting virtually impossible for foster care officials and volunteers to keep track of the kids health and safety. The Dallas Morning News says : “It’s a scary situation for the kids”.
They are absolutely right in this case. It’s always been like this in 2010 to 2014 144 kids all over the state died from abuse either in the system or had injuries or problems that were not treated when they arrived in the system leading to their death. According to a Texas DFPS (Department of Family and Protective Services)report, in May 2019 there were a total of 2772 kids under the age of 17 put into the Dallas area foster care system. This number according to DFPS reports went up slowly and came down a little but never larger than the gain of previous months. In December of 2019 the total number of kids in the system went down however in 2020 the numbers picked up again but went down close to the 2019 mark in May 2020. However, new reports from the Dallas News and the Texas Tribune(not confirmed from the DFPS reports) show that in June there are practically 3000 children coming into the system and most officials are calling for reforms or change because they feel that the system won’t be able to handle it.
Officials are finally coming together to change the system spearheaded by Judge Janis Graham Jack herself not only for the Dallas area, but for the whole state. New and bigger funding has arrived and new court cases on the subject are being opened and the court and officials are working together with the system to improve it and give it the proper resources it needs to run at the full capacity for the increased amount of children coming into the system. However this process is going very slow and not everyone is united on this front
It doesn’t help that COVID-19 has come in the way and as I mentioned earlier it’s becoming virtually impossible to keep an eye on the kids all the time to make sure they’re safe. A Lot of the funding that was supposed to come never came and only a meager portion was actually given due to the COVID-19 pandemic to help fund government programs to help citizens.But what about foster care? There still citizens, they still need help, what happened to that? Despite the promises the judges and officials have made for better funding and resources it doesn’t look like they are going to come soon due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the need for resources due to the current economic recession. Once again the foster care problem has been put in the background with the childrens safety and well being put on the line. What happens to them?
We finally were on the path to solving the problem, to resetting the system, to help the children but once again that’s been sidetracked and put behind. So that’s why this article is here to continue awareness about this quiet but deadly problem that only gets worse and worse. The foster care problem needs to come back into the light and needs to be fixed as soon as possible
https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2016/05/14/former-texas-foster-children-tell-of-frequent-moves-abuse/
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2020/06/23/foster-care-is-still-broken-fix-it-already/
https://www.kut.org/post/what-led-broken-foster-care-system-texas
https://www.kut.org/post/what-led-broken-foster-care-system-texas
https://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Doing_Business/Regional_Statistics/default.asp
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Thank you! I’ve been wanting to draw attention to this for a while. The system is not what its cut out to be and we appreciate you writing about this.