This is a DISGRACE!

These kids should be home with their parents SAFE AND SOUND in their own beds, NOT sleeping in CPS offices - NOT labeled "Special Needs" and put on medication!


Sure there MAY BE a few who were truly abused, but I'll bet my right kidney, most of them are there becuase of Title lV funding!

This is a disgrace and needs to be stopped!


Texas Children Being Housed At CPS Offices
Mary Stewart Reporting


(CBS 11 News) TARRANT COUNTY CBS 11 News has uncovered a crisis in the State of Texas.

An investigation revealed that some children in the Child Protective Services system don't have anyone to take care of them. Most North Texas business offices have desks, chairs, computers, and phones. Now some CPS business offices also have baby carriers, playpens and beds, in them.

The children are being housed at the offices because there aren't enough foster homes. CPS offices in South Fort Worth have been used to house children around the clock. Often those staying at the offices are young teenagers with mental or emotional problems. Across the state, beginning in March, caseworkers also started putting children in hotels.

CBS 11 News gathered these statistics –
As of May 1st
94 children are waiting for foster care
92 children are being housed in CPS offices
2 children are being housed in hotels

"We have to make sure they have adequate sleeping arrangements, that they have somewhere where they can bathe, and that they have food," says Marissa Gonzales, CPS spokesperson. "So if we can provide that for them, either at an office or at a hotel, we'll do that.

It's just a matter of deciding which environment is going to be the best for them."Most CPS offices already have high turnover rates -- about 28% -- and the current situation can't make the job easier for them or their families.

As it stands, two CPS employees must volunteer to watch each child at night and on the weekends. In the last 10 days, everyone in the South Fort Worth CPS office, including the department spokesperson, is expected to volunteer for the rotating schedule.

CPS worker Susan Thorton had to recruit department volunteers to care for seven special needs children in Tarrant County. "That's why the need for volunteers, because our caseworkers were just tired," says Thorton.

"The same people were staying in the offices with the children overnight."The seven children were moved to shelters or foster homes last Wednesday, but the ongoing problem remains and officials say there's no immediate solution.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)