SORT BLOGS BY CATEGORY:
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – September 25, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Texas’ foster system is plagued by problems. Critics say new overhaul isn’t...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – September 18, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Young Central Texas couple shares experience fostering several children over the...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week In Review – September 11, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Texas foster kids trafficked for sex as rings target those lacking placement, judges say...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – September 4, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Foster children’s sexual abuse histories not always disclosed to caregivers, lawyers say...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – August 28, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Midland police identify individual known as Cordarius, mother arrested Cordarius...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – August 21, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Texas names new head of child abuse investigations after high turnover and heavy...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week In Review – August 14, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: More licensed foster homes needed in Odessa and Midland There's a shortage of...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – August 7, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Texas child welfare agency fails vulnerable teens when they turn 18, whistleblower...
Starting a new school can be both exciting and nerve-wracking for any child, but for kids in our foster system, it can be an especially sensitive and challenging experience. As a foster parent or educator, understanding the unique needs and circumstances of a...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – July 31, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Texas is quietly leading the way on limiting child protective services overreach Texas...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week In Review – July 24, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: New Texas Law Favors Parents in Abuse Investigations An article by Public News Service...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – July 17, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Why two teenage brothers say they would like to be adopted together Cayden and Dalton,...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – July 10, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Sibling Connections: States Take Different Approaches to Preserving Family Bonds in...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – June 26, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: New Texas laws favor parents in child abuse investigations as legislators try to limit...
Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Reps take on false child abuse reports Representatives in Texas are addressing the issue of false child abuse reports through new legislation. House...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – June 19, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: High-dollar lawyers aim to prove Texas in ‘substantial compliance’ to serve foster kids...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – June 12, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Hundreds of kids in Texas foster care were still sleeping in hotels or other unlicensed...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – June 5, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Foster care in West Texas prepares for community-based care transition The foster care...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – May 29, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: 1. Texas tries to rein in false accusations of child abuse In an effort to address...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – May 22, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Texas DPS recovers 30 children in joint human trafficking operations Last week, a...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – May 15, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: First Lady Abbott hosts Heart Gallery event At Governor’s Mansion First Lady Cecilia...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – May 8, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Judge defends keeping eye on Texas’ overuse of mental health drugs on foster children...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – May 1, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Texas is facing a child care crisis. More than 30 groups are asking lawmakers to do more...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: DeSoto newborn returned to parents after 3 weeks in foster system Newborn Mila Jackson, removed by...
Welcome back to our series “What We Are Reading”! This month we are taking a deep dive into Dan Heath’s book Upstream and today we are taking a glimpse at part one. To introduce the topic, Heath uses a parable that is ubiquitous in child welfare where friends...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – April 17, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Meet the Houston lawyer whose charity work sparked the epic battle over Texas foster...
Every now and then you run across a book that you just have to share with your friends. We ran across one that we feel speaks perfectly to the hardships and frustrations of child welfare. Upstream by Dan Heath is just that. Initially drawn in by the title as...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – April 10, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Legal document used to take Dallas newborn had the wrong family’s name Dallas couple...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – April 3, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Asking the right questions about adoption On March 26, 2018, white adoptive parents...
Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Caseworkers hampered by ’90s-era foster care software that the state hasn’t replaced Texas has poured more than $100 million into the state’s aging...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – March 20, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Texas removed six Black children from their homes. Their adoptive parents drove them...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – March 13, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Former Texas CPS employees say nearly 70 'children without placement' are being housed...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – March 6, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Nonprofit network to take over foster care in Dallas, Collin, 7 other counties On...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – February 27, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: Hurdles keep Texas youth out of extended foster care designed to help them In Texas...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – February 20, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: 1a. Lawyers for foster children using money awarded in Texas lawsuit to lobby...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – February 13, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye: How a 12-year-old federal lawsuit turned a judge into Texas’ foster care czar When...
We Need More Foster Homes In recent news our attention has been turned to the question: What happens to children and youth that are in care of the State of Texas? This is most commonly known to us as the foster system. Parents, most often, come into hard times...
Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – February 6, 2023 Here are some news items from last week related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught my eye: New Texas foster care report shows both improvements and continued deficiencies The...
The Texas Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS) just released a slew of reports ons the State's foster care system. Each report is mandated by the Texas legislature to give them a glimpse of what is under the hood at DFPS. At One Accord we hope to...
Snow days are THE BEST for all the right reasons. Unable to drive anywhere but you can still play in the snow. In West Texas this only happens once, maybe twice a year. The not so snowy snow days on the other hand, can take a bit more creativity to survive...
Well January 2023 is in full swing! Many of us have at least thought about our New Year's Resolutions; wanting to get in shape, reduce stress, or reach some crazy goal. January is perfect for new beginnings. While this focus is great and "self-care" is quite...
Every child deserves a Christmas to Remember. It all started in the Fall of 2020. Due to COVID restrictions volunteers and even staff were not allowed to go into local Child Protective Services (CPS) offices. This presented a problem as CPS was gearing up for their...
Family Help West Texas and FindHelp.org have made helping others easy. With access to your free Family Help West Texas account you can claim your program, manage your program’s information, access free reports, and determine your intake method. Program Update...
Access to Resources is Key The most reliable predictors of family instability and child welfare involvement are income loss, cumulative material hardship, and housing hardship (Weiner, Anderson, & Thomas, 2021). Material supports and concrete services may reduce...
We are excited to announce a new look for One Accord for Kids and new tools for the communities of West Texas. Our focus has always been to improve foster care by putting the West Texas Communities in the driver seat. We deeply believe that lives will be transformed...
In light of COVID-19 and our recent snowmaggedon, we’ve all found that being ready for disasters and the unexpected is vitally important – not only to ensure we aren’t without basic comforts during a storm or difficult time, but to make sure we simply survive when...
This is part two of a two-part series about the ongoing capacity crisis in Texas foster care. Today’s post will discuss the long-term solution to the current capacity crisis. More Children Without Placement Our last post discussed the capacity crisis in the Texas...
The Texas Foster Care Capacity Crisis and Its Solution This is part two of a two-part series about the ongoing capacity crisis in Texas foster care. Today's post will discuss the long-term solution to the current capacity crisis. More Children Without Placement Our...
The Texas Foster Care Capacity Crisis and Its Solution This is part one of a two-part series about the ongoing capacity crisis in Texas foster care. Today's post will discuss the problem and its causes. The Texas foster care system is experiencing the worst capacity...
Broader Pictures by Rhett Lively What time I spent in college, I studied music and psychology. At the time I dreamed of opening a clinic where a couple of friends of mine and I would work on the whole person’s needs – one the body, one the spirit, and I’d take...