The Texas Senate’s top child-welfare policy writer says the state has waited long enough to resolve its foster care overcapacity crisis and that she and other top state leaders are backing community-based care.

Senate Bill 1896, which has passed that chamber and currently is in a House committee, will move the state into a community-based care model. SB 1896 expands therapeutic treatment foster care by lessening employment restrictions, allowing single parents and expanding the age to qualify to older than 10. It directs the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to work with faith and community partners to establish a mentor program for children in congregate settings, and it directs both the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and DFPS to determine methods for securing additional capacity. The bill also directs DFPS and single source continuum contractors (SSCC) to pre-contract for reserved beds to ensure a child has a temporary placement when needed.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), acknowledged the change would be quite a jolt for Texas' current foster care system but she's ready for that challenge.

Texans Care for Children Senior Child Welfare Policy Associate Kate Murphy | linkedin.com/in/kate-murphy-4b697391/

"I want to jump in that lake and swim," Kolkhorst told The Dallas Morning News in a story that ran a few days after SB 1896 passed the Senate.

The state's outsourcing of foster care is clearly evident, particularly in cities such as Fort Worth and San Antonio. Proponents of SB 1896, which would switch the state to more community-based care, say the community is the best place to start correcting Texas' foster care woes.

Kolkhorst, a fifth-generation Texan who can trace her family back to the Texas War of Independence, was first elected to the Senate in 2014, following seven terms in the House. She represents the 18th Senate District and currently chairs the Committee on Health and Human Services.

The 18th District includes all or parts of 21 counties and one-third of the Texas coastline.

Texas' current foster care system capacity crisis only became worse amid the still-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. More than 200 children slept in state offices this past March and, in February, 34 children spent two or more nights sleeping in Department of Family and Protective Services offices, according to a recent KXAN news report.

In the same KXAN news story, Texans Care for Children senior child welfare policy associate Kate Murphy listed SB 1896 as among the most important pieces of legislation to implement provisions under the 2018 Family First Prevention Services Act.

"It really shifted a lot of things for state child welfare system," she said of the act. "It restructured how the feds are going to pay for foster care, and it opened up new funding for prevention services that can keep kids out of foster care in the first place."

SB 1896 and another Kolkhorst bill, SB 1575, have "really, really good stuff for kids," Murphy said.

The problem of foster care overcapacity in Texas is not new. In 2015 a federal judge ruled that the state's foster care system was broken and ordered changes. However, by 2019 it was clear that the Department of Family and Protective Services and had not complied with the judge's orders. By this past September, state officials again were warned they risk contempt if reforms weren’t implemented, according to another KXAN news report.

Department of Family and Protective Services responded by asking the state legislature for $38 million to comply with the judge's 5-year-old order, and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission asked for $37 million to cover costs.

SB 1896 directs the state's Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to place every child who requires foster care, to find a placement for every child, address "needed improvements" in community-based care, expand foster child placement capacity and improve safety and quality of care for children in the foster care system. The bill also directs a transition for FFPSA services and supports.

SB 1896 unanimously passed the Senate on April 27. It arrived in the House the following day, where it passed first reading April 30 and was referred to that chamber's Human Services Committee, where it remains.

The bill aims to increase capacity, safety, quality of care and to better ensure the successful statewide expansion of community-based care, which would provide flexibility to local communities to harness local strengths and resources. Those communities then would be asked to find innovative ways to meet the individual needs of children and their families.

SB 1896 seeks to rectify the current lack of independent oversight by establishing an agency called the Office of Community Based Care Transition, which would be independent of, but attached to, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. The new agency would, among other things, develop a plan for community-based care implementation across the state, evaluate care providers, measure performance and report outcomes.

Community-based foster care appears to be what Texans want. A recent Texas Policy poll found that 76% of registered Texas voters polled support the community-based model, up from the 62% who expressed support for the model in a poll last year.

A Texas Tech report commissioned by the legislature found the FFPSA's version of community-based care has been "random, chaotic," overly centralized and "lacking an overall implementation strategy." The report noted that implementation lacked appropriate transparency and accountability, saying that community-based care "should be evaluated by an independent entity."

"Agencies should not evaluate themselves," the Texas Tech report continued. "Also, to maintain maximum objectivity for accountability purposes, [single source continuum contractors'] SSCC performance should also be judged by an independent organization unaffiliated with DFPS."

Kolkhorst, who has a long history of advocating for foster care in Texas, has said the community-based model is not perfect and she wants to hear from those SSCCs. 

"We know that there are flaws that have been identified in the Texas Tech report and anecdotally by the SSCCs and other providers in the system," Kolkhorst said during an April 7 hearing.

At the same hearing, Kolkhorst said she was eager to hear feedback from the people and agencies who would be affected by the bill, to identify what needs to be addressed.

“Sometimes you take the basket and you throw it out, and you kind of resort it and see what's working and what's not working," Kolkhorst said. "Working with my staff, I said 'I want you to put everything in there - everything I have complained to y'all about or I have seen.' They spend a lot of time with me and we talk through these things."

Kolkhorst added that SB 1896 has "a little bit of everything” and needs to be discussed in order to ensure the necessary improvements are made.

"I don’t like skinny folders when it comes to bills, I like them when they get real thick and this is going to get thicker as this bill moves," she said.

Echoing a recent report critical of the DFPS roll out of community-based care, Kolkorst said during the hearing, "We cannot have a half-baked implementation of this model.” "We cannot limp along."