The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is struggling with finding enough employees to fill the growing number of children needing services as unemployment benefits and border crises continue.
Texas DFPS blames the pandemic, the increasing border crisis and continuation of unemployment benefits to the increase of children becoming a part of the system and not enough employees to fill the child to caseworker ratio required.
“The capacity crisis that we have right now is the worst that I’ve ever seen,” Scott Lundy, CEO of Arrow Child and Family Ministries, told KXAN.
According to data from the Texas DFPS, as reported by KXAN, in February 2020 34 children spent two or more nights sleeping in a DFPS office. That number has jumped to 237 children having to sleep in a DFPS office as recorded in March 2021. State data shows that while 393 beds for children were gained during fiscal year 2020, 540 beds were lost and now, in FY 2021, 696 beds were lost while only 112 beds were gained.
A spokesperson for DFPS explained that foster care providers have struggled to recruit and train foster families willing to open their homes, while residential treatment centers have faced similar struggles with retaining qualified staff.
“I can’t imagine my kids spending time in an office — sleeping there and eating there,” Lundy said, as reported by KXAN. “There’s no laundry facilities. They are eating out the whole time. There’s not a lot for them to do, and recreation, or things that, that would be normal for a child.”
The largest issue that the Texas DFPS is facing is more children coming from the border crisis and the state still allowing unemployment insurance under the American Rescue Plan Act, in which many people are not returning to work due to making more money “sitting at home” than going back to work.
“We know that we need to support foster care providers right now, especially the ones that are doing life-saving work for kids and taking care of our kids. We want to make sure they have the resources to do that well,” Kate Murphy, senior child welfare policy associate with the group Texans Care for Children, said, as reported by KXAN.
The American Rescue Plan Act distributed stimulus checks as large as $1,400 to millions of Americans, another $350 billion to cities and states, and offered an extra $300 per person a week in unemployment claims until September.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, workers in most states, like Texas, are allowed up to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, and 13 weeks of extended benefits. The unemployment rate in Texas was 6.9% in March, which is more than double the record low of 3.4% in May 2019 despite Texas adding 99,000 jobs throughout the state last month alone, The Texas Tribune reported.
An AP news article said American authorities have encountered people illegally crossing the border more than 100,000 times in February 2021, and the Texas DFPS is struggling to find places for the surge of migrant children. The U.S. government plans to house up to 3,000 immigrant teenagers at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas, but DFPS officials say this is still not enough.
The federal government has been advertising a field program specialist position on its job search website and those interested can apply online. It is open to those who do not have, or need, special training with migrant children, KENS 5 reported.