Texas continues to fall short of its goals and a federal judge’s orders for reforms to help child sex-trafficking victims.
Anti-trafficking efforts received millions of dollars in funding. Millions of dollars in new funding went into the state’s foster care and Child Protective Services systems and more emergency shelters opened that cater to potential victims.
But a federal judge fined the state for being too slow to implement reforms ordered in a lawsuit over the civil rights of children in foster care. The few facilities caring for victims of child sex-trafficking say more funding is necessary. Traffickers change how they solicit potential victims faster than Texas law enforcement agencies can adapt.
Little has changed nearly 10 years after a child advocacy group filed a lawsuit against the state for violating the civil rights of children in foster care, advocates say.
Children’s Rights Inc. brought the class-action lawsuit in 2011 on behalf of Texas children in long-term foster care.
“There's a simple reason why the lawsuit was filed. The foster care system in the State of Texas was badly broken, these children were being subject to neglect and abuse, and things needed to change,” Paul Yetter, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, said to The Texas Tribune.
An order by U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack required the state to hire sufficient staff to supervise children in foster care facilities 24 hours a day. Her December 2015 order also required the state to hire more caseworkers.
Four years after this ruling, Jack found the state in contempt of court. In November 2019, she fined the state $50,000 for every day it failed to provide the supervision ordered. After the state paid $150,000 in fines, officials told the judge the state had come into compliance.
A December 2019 filing by the state agreed to reduce caseloads in three areas: Child Protective Services conservatorship caseworkers, child abuse investigators and child care licensing inspectors.
Patrick Crimmins, director of communications for Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said to The Texas Tribune that the case was complex. He said the department was limited in commenting outside of its court filings.
After assigning two court monitors to canvass the state’s child welfare facilities, Jack said the state still failed to provide 24-hour supervision at some facilities. Yetter, lead attorney for the New York-based Children’s Rights Inc., said they expect court monitors’ final report about the state’s progress in May.
“The system is still as broken as it was,” Yetter said to The Texas Tribune. “Although with the judge's order, we're very optimistic that improvements are coming.”
Gov. Greg Abbott said he keeps sex trafficking a priority. He signed bills in 2019 that created victim treatment programs, education courses and a Human Trafficking Prevention Coordinating Council, The Texas Tribune reported.
Anti-trafficking advocates criticize his veto of a bill decriminalizing prostitution for children. He reasoned that it would create unintended consequences. He suggested it would encourage traffickers to use underage prostitutes to avoid arrests.
Abbot vetoed a House bill that would establish a separate clemency panel responsible for reviewing cases of sex-trafficking victims and jailed abuse survivors.
He replaced that legislative plan with a new clemency application for people convicted of crimes. His idea would have these people telling the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles about their experiences with human trafficking or domestic violence. The governor receives recommendations from the board and he can pardon inmates.
“The gubernatorial pardon plays an important role in this redemption process because it offers a second chance to survivors with criminal convictions resulting from their abuse or exploitation,” Abbott said to The Texas Tribune.
Some programs received more funding than they requested out of the $58 million in the state budget bill designated for state agencies to combat human trafficking.
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) spokesperson Tela Mange told The Texas Tribune the agency received $1.5 million from the Legislature. That’s three times what they requested to create an eight-person anti-trafficking unit. This group will get specialized training and inspect massage parlors.
“It was kind of surreal because we thought that we were going to have to beg for what we asked for, and instead they're like, what else do you need?” Mange said to The Texas Tribune. “It never happens.”
In 2017, only one specialized treatment center for sex-trafficked girls was open in Texas, the 38-bed Freedom Place.
A 48-bed facility opened in Bastrop County in August 2018. The Refuge Ranch offers on-site care, a charter school and therapeutic programs including group therapy, one-on-one therapy and equine therapy.
The non-profit that oversees the Bastrop facility raised $7.2 million to open The Refuge Ranch. Refuge for Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking spokesperson Steven Phenix said the facility houses girls ages 11-17. If necessary, they can stay up to age 23. It has cared for 30 girls since opening in 2018.
The governor’s Child Sex Trafficking Team awarded grants to organizations for: Jonathan’s Place RESET Emergency Shelter in Dallas-Fort Worth; San Antonio’s La Puerta; SJRC Texas in New Braunfels; and BCFS Common Threat in Killeen. The latter site ended operations as an emergency shelter recently.
Roy Maas Youth Alternatives opened the first 24/7 drop-in center in the nation for girls and boys who are sex-trafficking victims. Centro Seguro operates like an emergency room, The Texas Tribune said and holds children for 24 to 48 hours. An emergency shelter like the La Puerta center opened in January 2019 by the non-profit, is licensed and allows longer stays. This shelter provides space for 16 sex-trafficked children for 90 days.
While law enforcement can count successes in the fight against child trafficking, those who exploit children find ways around those setbacks. Texas and California attorney generals in partnership with U.S. law enforcement agencies seized Backpage.com in 2018. The website’s adult section featured escort and stripper ads.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Backpage generated millions of dollars annually by exploiting women and children who were forced or coerced into sex trafficking.
Dozens of sites remain that are used to coordinate sex trafficking, Sgt. Marty Kuehn of the Harris County Sheriff Office said.
“Obviously, the shutdown of Backpage was a good thing, and there may be some [sex traffickers] out there who just got out of the business, but there’s a whole bunch of other little websites that popped up that basically are doing the same thing as Backpage was,” Kuehn, who oversees his county’s sex-trafficking unit, said to The Texas Tribune.
The TDLR’s well-funded sex trafficking units will use massage parlor listings on websites like Rubmaps to find businesses suspected of sex trafficking, Executive Director Brian Francis said.
