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By Michelle M. Martinez
The Austin American-Statesman
Friday, January 07, 2005
Perry proposes $329 million overhaul of CPS
Governor's plan for child-protection agency includes restructuring, 800 new investigators
SAN ANTONIO -- Texas' troubled child-protection agency would get a $329 million overhaul under proposals issued Thursday by Gov. Rick Perry and the state's top health and human services official.
Perry, meanwhile, ordered the immediate creation of an investigations division.
The proposal announced Thursday would provide for an across-the-board pay raise aimed at retaining good workers. Perry also called for the Legislature to approve funding to hire more than 800 additional Child Protective Services investigators along with hundreds more clerks and other support staff and to give CPS investigators $5,000 more a year.
Those and other recommendations would be paid for with $253 million in new state money, and the remainder of the $329 million would come from federal sources.
"I support every cent of this," Perry said when announcing his plan in Family Drug Treatment Court in San Antonio. "More than committing to hundreds of millions of dollars of new funding with CPS, today we're laying down a significant marker to the effort to mend a broken safety net."
Perry's announcement was an endorsement of the plan issued Thursday by Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins. The long-awaited commission plan was the result of a top-to-bottom review of CPS and contained more than 160 recommendations.
The plan would add nearly 2,000 caseworkers, including 848 CPS investigators, over two years. Also among the new hires would be case technicians, who would take children to doctor's appointments and supervise parental visits. It is expected that the additional workers would help reduce investigator caseloads from 74 a month to 45.
A key part of Perry's plan is the creation of a Division of Investigations within CPS to focus on receiving, reviewing and investigating reports of abuse and neglect. A new director with a strong background in forensic investigation and law enforcement would oversee the division, though it would remain within the Department of Family and Protective Services, the agency that runs CPS.
A representative for the largest state employee group, the Texas Public Employees Association, declined to comment about the recommendations or whether the proposed number of new investigators is sufficient. Andy Homer, director of government relations for the association, said his organization had not had a chance to analyze them.
He said turnover at the Department of Family and Protective Services has badly hurt the agency.
"When you lose somebody who's a 10-year or 20-year caseworker, or somebody who's been a supervisor, it's a huge loss to this state," he said. "So this is not just about bringing in a bunch of new people, this is about creating an agency that's going to have incentives to train people well. And then we've got to keep them."
Hawkins' report states that CPS staff members, particularly new caseworkers, are leaving the agency at an alarming rate: About four of every 10 caseworkers leave within the first two years; about half of new investigations caseworkers quit within two years.
The report recommends paying caseworkers a salary comparable to other public and private sector jobs. Currently, the annual starting salary is $27,540.
It also calls for creating a program that would train a pool of caseworkers who would be ready to step in when others leave, so that their colleagues won't have to absorb their cases.
Scott McCown, executive director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, an organization that advocates for low-income families, said the plan doesn't propose spending enough money and still doesn't do enough to reduce caseloads.
"In 1998, Governor Bush declared the foster care system in 'crisis,' calling for the hiring of more caseworkers," McCown said in a statement. "Investigator caseloads at that time averaged 24."
A spokeswoman for House Speaker Tom Craddick said he had not had a chance to delve into Perry's proposals but said he thinks "the governor's plan is definitely worthy of everyone's full attention."
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said in a statement that he would work with the governor and Legislature to reform CPS.
"While I have not reviewed today's CPS reform plan in its entirety, as I have said before, we intend to solve the problem," Dewhurst said.
Perry ordered a thorough review of CPS in July after a series of abuse cases in Bexar and Hidalgo counties. Three of those cases involved San Antonio children, known to the system, who had been beaten, starved or both.
The plan was supposed to go to Perry by Dec. 31. Hawkins asked for an extension to finalize the report, including more specific long-term reform recommendations, commission spokeswoman Jennifer Harris said.
The recommendations are among a long list of others outlined in committee reports.
Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, has filed legislation that includes CPS reform measures. Rep. Suzanna Hupp, R-Lampasas, is expected to file the House's reform bill Monday.
Nelson, Hupp and Rep. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, were in San Antonio on Thursday to support the governor's proposals.
Uresti said he would approach his fellow Democrats to ask them to support the governor's plan.
"We haven't had much to smile about this past year, and I think San Antonio and Texas can smile for a change."
Highlights of proposed $329 million overhaul of CPS
* Add 2,000 caseworkers, clerical workers and other support staff members and increase their pay.
* Increase the annual salary of investigations caseworkers by $5,000.
* Equip workers with mobile computers so they can update files in the field, and also provide them with Internet-based transcription services so investigators can spend more time with CPS families.
* Hire retired criminal investigators and law enforcement officials to assist with investigations and help coordinate joint action with law enforcement.
* Establish a cost-effective health care delivery model for children in foster care, including the use of electronic health 'passports,' an electronic file containing medical information that would let hospital staff know what medications a child has been taking.
* Work with private groups to place foster children in the right environment.