Texas

In an interview with The Imprint, Elora Mukherjee talks about how extended detention is affecting children in ICE custody.

Texas has made it easier for relatives to become licensed foster parents and take in their young family members, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday.  A new streamlined licensing process with fewer administrative requirements will give aunts, uncles, grandparents and other kin quicker access to financial aid and other resources from the state. 

When siblings are kept together, children in care have better health outcomes. Yet, those connections are the exception, writes Erica Hickey.

Texas lawmakers have invested $3 million in a project to ready former foster youth for college with a year-round hotline and help center. 

Private foster care and adoption agencies in Texas are brokering contracts for moms to turn over their children in a murky legal world, spawning protracted civil custody battles.

Lawyers representing foster children asked the high court to reinstate a contempt order against the state — and the ousted judge who issued it.

A bill introduced by Rep. John Lujan is among several child welfare bills before the Legislature, along with expansion of mental health care.

“Parental relinquishments” account for 6% of foster care entries in Texas; critics say public investments in mental health care will curb the practice. 

A Texas legislative panel accused the state’s Juvenile Justice Department of ignoring allegations of widespread abuse and unconstitutional conditions at juvenile detention facilities.