Will Every Child in CPS Finally Receive the Equality They Deserve?

A new report released this month by the Texas Public Policy Foundation seeks higher standards for all cases involving the efforts of Child Protective Services to preserve and reunite Texas families, not just those of Native American children.

TPPF states that under the current law, CPS must follow special standards when working with children who are members of a Native American tribe compared to non-Native children.

“All children, regardless of their racial or ethnic background, deserve the best efforts we can provide to enable them to be raised by their natural families,” said TPPF Vice President of Policy Andrew Brown.

Specifically, CPS, in conjunction with the Department of Family and Protective Services, applies “active efforts” when working with Native American children under the Indian Child Welfare Act.

These “active efforts” are clearly defined standards allowing for more resources to preserve and reunite Native American children with family or tribal communities.

Some examples of active efforts include “Taking steps necessary to keep siblings together” and “Identifying appropriate services and helping the parents to overcome barriers, including actively assisting the parents in obtaining such services.”

Additional active efforts focus on assisting the child’s parents or extended family in accessing “housing, financial, transportation, mental health, substance abuse, and peer support services.”

In contrast, CPS allows for “reasonable efforts” when working with non-Native children and families. While Arkansas considers reasonable efforts to include vague services described as “childcare” or “family therapy,” TPPF research states that Texas does not have a working definition of reasonable efforts or a list of services, which causes problems for state courts and child protection agencies.

“The ‘active efforts’ standard is better defined than the current ‘reasonable efforts’ standard that applies in most CPS cases and provides a detailed list of remedial services that can be offered to families,” TPPF Policy Scholar Nicholas Armstrong said.

Concerns about the effectiveness of DFPS in meeting the needs of children in the foster system have surfaced in the past. Due to the passage of House Bill 1087 in 2023, DFPS must now “describe all reasonable efforts” taken to prevent a child from being removed from their family. This practice was not previously required.

However, TPPF wants the Texas legislature to do more to guide DFPS caseworkers, “recognizing that having one set of standards applicable to Native American children and another applicable to non-Native children effectively creates a two-tiered justice system.”

“Requiring CPS to meet the ‘active efforts’ standard in all cases will provide greater accountability for the state and improve the quality of family preservation and reunification services,” said TPPF Policy Scholar Nicholas Armstrong.