The Texas Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS) released a report earlier this month detailing the deaths of 104 adolescents in the foster care system since 2020.
These numbers are on track with the previous year’s reports from the DFPS. Unfortunately, fatalities for children in foster care are much higher than for children in a regular household setting.
CDC data provided by KVUE shows that Texas is home to around 7.5 million children, with 3,524 deaths reported in 2020. For the 47,913 children in Texas foster care, there were 44 fatalities in 2020. Based on this data the fatality rate for Texas children is 0.047% in regular households and 0.092% for foster children.
In the report, the DFPS outlined the cause of death for each child. In the last two years, six died of suicide, and another six drowned.
In 2020, four children’s deaths were ruled to be caused by physical abuse inside their foster care facility or home. The majority, sixteen children as of March 2022, had succumbed to injuries sustained before they were placed in foster care.
Texas DFPS has not responded to The Dallas Express‘ request for comment.
Weeks before the DFPS released these details, an investigation was opened against The Refuge, an all-girls sexual assault rehab center in Bastrop.
Beginning in January 2022, youth connected to the center filed cases of alleged sexual assault and trafficking occurring at The Refuge.
Documents pulled by The Dallas Express found that eight different potential victims had filed complaints against a single ex-employee at The Refuge, who allegedly sold photos of youths in the nude.
The Refuge responded by saying that the employee accused of such exploitation had been fired. A Texas Department of Public Safety letter to Governor Abbott claimed that there was a lack of evidence to prove that any sexual abuse or trafficking had occurred. So far, no arrests have been made.