CPS Workers Don’t See One in Five Kids in Harris County

Our daily roundup of Texas headlines.

By Becky FogelOctober 17, 2016 11:17 am

The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.

By the end of this week, the head of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is supposed to have a plan to make immediate improvements to Child Protective Services.

That’s at the request of top leaders in the state, including Governor Greg Abbott. If you haven’t been paying attention to the problems at CPS – they’re pretty huge. Issues such as caseworker turnover – at 57 percent – the failure to see kids at-risk for abuse, and a lack of foster care placements have plagued CPS offices across the state.

Bob Garrett’s investigation into CPS in Harris County showed the situation is dire.

“We found that through early last month half of the children being referred to Harris County CPS investigators weren’t being seen on time and one of every five wasn’t being seen at all,” he says. “And that was analyzing a confidential database from CPS in which they track initial visits … so it was jaw-dropping.”

State GOP leaders have said that fixing the situation at CPS could have “associated financial costs” but haven’t mentioned support for ideas that might increase retention – like higher wages.

You can read more about possible fixes to the problems at CPS, like higher wages, here.




Dallas County is expecting way more early voters for this election than they did four years ago. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins spoke with WFAA’s “Inside Texas Politics.”

“Last time we had 25 early voting locations,” Jenkins says. “This time we’ll have 50.”

The county projects about 300,000 more early voters this year than they saw in 2012. If you’re planning to vote ASAP early voting starts in Texas a week from today on October 24. You can find more information about voting here.