Lawyers representing foster care children rebuked for hiring lobbyists

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In response to rebuke from lawmakers, the legal professionals representing Texas foster care children in an ongoing federal lawsuit towards the state have suspended lobbying companies this legislative session.

The legal professionals had employed 5 lobbyists to push for state funds to be allotted towards updating the Department of Family and Protective Services’ expertise system and for growing pay for kinship caregivers.

These lobbyists would have been paid a complete of $20,000 a month for everything of the legislative session utilizing cash awarded in courtroom. Among the lobbyists employed was Albert Hawkins, former executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission and an authentic defendant within the lawsuit.

But key lawmakers and the federal decide overseeing the case have balked on the hiring of lobbyists.

State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst raised considerations Thursday in regards to the legal professionals within the federal lawsuit hiring impartial lobbyists. Kolkhorst is the chair of the Senate House and Human Services Committee this session.

“This is an alarming practice and it begs the question of what their role and intentions are going forward,” Kolkhorst stated in a written assertion. “These revelations give the appearance of blurred lines between the court monitors, the federal judge and the attorneys representing the children in this case.”

State Rep. James Frank, the chair of the House Human Services Committee, has additionally questioned the federal lawsuit for years, saying the numerous quantity of state funds protecting courtroom charges may have been redirected to DFPS companies. Frank advised The Dallas Morning News that “the shakedown continues — professional level, now.”

“The decision to suspend the lobbying effort was made after we learned about the reaction of Chair Frank and Chair Kolkhorst,” stated Kelly Darby, a spokesperson for Paul Yetter, the lead legal professional on the case. “Our goal — our only goal — has always been to support and help the state get the system right to where children are not being harmed, they’re being cared for.”

Any funds already paid to the lobbyists will likely be reimbursed by Yetter, she stated.

Nearly a decade in the past, U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack declared that Texas foster youngsters had been leaving state care more damaged than when they entered. Jack has ordered a protracted record of reforms: Hire extra caseworkers, cease inserting children in unsafe settings, observe child-on-child abuse. She additionally appointed courtroom screens to trace the state’s compliance.

The lawsuit has include a hefty price ticket. DFPS and the Health and Human Services Commission have paid at the least $41.3 million to the courtroom screens since they had been appointed in 2019. DFPS has seven full-time workers, non-attorneys with a mixed annual wage of $559,544 in 2023, devoted to engaged on the federal lawsuit. The legal professionals representing the children have additionally obtained practically $6 million in courtroom charges.

Yetter stated that he and the opposite attorneys representing the children within the case have labored for free. The authorized charges awarded have been put in a belief account for the state’s children. Yetter beforehand provided to place the belief funds towards a brand new expertise system however stated the state by no means responded.

“We had hoped to partner with the state agencies at the legislature to get the funding needed for a safe system,” Yetter stated in a written assertion. “There are critical reforms waiting to be done, and all we hear from the state is, ‘We don’t have the money.’”