A Texas Child Protective Services support staff employee was fired over claims that she encouraged a 14-year-old girl to become a prostitute.
The parent of the teenager, Keisha Bazley, reached out to CPS for help with the teenager, Fox 26 Houston reported. Bazley’s daughter had been getting in trouble at school and running away from home.
Bazley told Fox 26, “My daughter told me that the worker had been telling her she should do these things, so she said she decided to video her” using her cellphone.
Bazley stated her daughter could have been taken away from her if she had told the teenager the same things that the employee had told her.
“If me, the parent, was to do something like this to my child, I would be bashed. I would be called a horrible parent. I would lose my kids,” she said.
In the video, the worker reportedly tells Bazley’s daughter to become a prostitute to get food, according to Fox 26.
Mike Schneider, a family law attorney, stated the worker also gave the teen “almost a threat of not having her needs being met if she didn’t do what this woman very explicitly told her to do.”
Bazley, the mother of nine children, filed a complaint about the incident through Child Protective Services. The commissioner of CPS, Jamie Masters, made a trip to Houston to apologize to the 14-year-old and her mother, Fox 26 reported.
Schneider shared that a visit like that was unheard of.
“I’ve never seen that happen before, where the commissioner of CPS comes in from Austin, just to apologize about something horrible that’s been done to a child involved with CPS,” he said. “It’s bad enough if it’s just one bad rogue worker.”
Schneider expressed concern that “it may be bigger than that.” He claimed, “They need to make sure it’s not just one person, and they’ve got to find a way to protect these kids.”
A Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) spokesperson, Melissa Lanford, sent a statement to Fox 26 regarding the incident.
“DFPS is aware of the video and has taken action. The person in the video — who was employed as CPS support staff — was dismissed from her position August 10,” Lanford assured the public. “The safety and appropriateness with which children in care must be treated is our paramount concern. Nothing less will be tolerated,” the statement continued.
Child Protective Services attempted to have the court case involving Bazley’s daughter dismissed, but according to Schneider, it was not.
Schneider told Fox 26, “I think they’re threatened by the fact that this video even exists. They know about it. They apologized, and the head of CPS has apologized about this. What they didn’t do is tell the court dealing with this case that was going on Thursday, when they wanted to dismiss the case.”
The teen was being housed at a Harris County hotel but has been moved into a foster home.
