TPPF Statement on Special Masters’ Report in Children’s Rights Lawsuit

The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Director of the Center for Families and Children Brandon Logan, J.D., CWLS, issued the following statement in response to the Special Masters’ Report ordered in December 2015 by U.S. District Judge Janis Jack, who ruled in M.D. v. Abbott, a class-action lawsuit brought by Children’s Rights, Inc., that Texas’ long-term foster care system violated children's civil rights and ordered the state to hire special masters to come up with solutions. 

 “Today’s long-awaited special masters’ report in the Children’s Rights lawsuit against the State does little more than restate Judge Jack’s desired outcomes and recommend additional work by them at $350.00 an hour,” said Logan. “The preparation of the report and the further billable hours it recommends come at considerable expense to Texas taxpayers. At the same time, the court decision covers less than ten percent of the children in Texas foster care and will not address the immediate needs of children sleeping in agency offices or unseen by the agency despite reported abuse and neglect. Though the litigation has brought attention to a broken system, it will not fix foster care.”