AUSTIN (KXAN) — Advocates are pointing to new pictures and videos filmed inside two temporary housing locations for some Texas foster children as evidence that longstanding issues in the state’s child welfare system persist.
Houston-based human rights advocate Dr. Candice Matthews also provided KXAN with a first-hand account from a child who described living in one of the state’s unlicensed placements with broken walls and a lack of food.
As KXAN has previously reported, the state of Texas occasionally houses long-term foster children in rental properties or hotel rooms and calls them Children Without Placement (CWOP). The Department of Family and Protective Services has called CWOP a “last resort” but has cited a shortage of beds at licensed foster providers — particularly for kids with complex medical or behavioral needs — as the reason for having to utilize it.
Concerns over safety and care at these locations have been a focus for several years in the ongoing federal lawsuit over the Texas foster care system, but Matthews said she got involved after being contacted by at least 30 children who had spent time recently in CWOP locations.
“What really got us was when you actually put your eyes on it,” she said.
Matthews said she and other advocates visited two CWOP locations in Austin on Friday, April 5. She showed KXAN pictures of an empty refrigerator she said were taken that day, as well as a video interview with a child living at one of these locations.
“They don’t give us nothing. Rotten food, molded food in the fridge,” they said.
The description mirrors similar conditions in several rental facilities in Bell County that were pictured in a report filed last fall by the court-appointed monitors in the federal lawsuit.
A spokesperson for the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) said in a statement, “What the videos show are the living quarters of active youth and their CPS caseworkers. As the videos also selectively show, multiple caseworkers and DFPS employees are assigned to each CWOP location, with groceries, snacks, and meals provided by CPS. For example, in one of the videos, a caseworker is heard commenting on a pending HEB grocery delivery. All are checked for food and cleanliness by CPS staff.”
Regarding the visit by Matthews and other advocates, the spokesperson went on to say, “Security is provided at each CWOP location and was successful at stopping one of the unauthorized visits on Friday. That video was not shown, but we will be reviewing security at all CWOP locations to discourage trespassing.”
DFPS told KXAN that as of Monday, April 8, there were 15 children without placement counted across the state, which marked the lowest number since 2021.
“CWOP continues to be a top priority for DFPS, and non-stop, 24/7 efforts are paying off,” the spokesperson said, in part.