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AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services promises transparency and improved services as latest blunders and established points proceed to plague the company.
DFPS highlighted client-centered services, workforce stability and improved company operations as three of its important objectives in a strategic plan launched final week. The doc outlines the company’s objectives and the way it plans to realize them by the tip of fiscal 12 months 2027.
“Our agency exists to promote safe and healthy families and protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect and exploitation. Continuous improvement to client services is central to our mission and should be proactive, data-driven and constantly evolving,” the report mentioned.
DFPS has come below intense scrutiny following allegations of human trafficking and sexual abuse in a Bastrop facility in March and experiences of youngsters sleeping in unlicensed and harmful placements similar to places of work and resort rooms final 12 months. These points proceed to plague the company regardless of an ongoing 11-year federal lawsuit.
To deal with its points, DFPS goals to deal with correct, thorough and well timed youngster protecting services investigations, in addition to construct various placement capability to assist guarantee youngsters can keep in their native communities and cut back the time to realize permanency, it mentioned.
When requested for additional particulars, Marissa Gonzales, the division’s media relations director, mentioned the report speaks for itself.
DFPS has been working to transition to a community-based care mannequin that enables the company to broaden services past conventional foster care. The new mannequin would give communities the pliability to attract on native strengths and sources to seek out progressive methods to satisfy the distinctive and particular person wants of youngsters. This method, state leaders say, will assist enhance placement capability nearer to native communities and help with enhancing consumer outcomes.
But this system has been sluggish to maneuver ahead. While different states which have efficiently adopted this mannequin jumped proper in, Texas is on a multistep, region-by-region plan that can take 10 years to finish.
The company can also be working towards improved workforce stability.
According to state knowledge, DFPS turnover jumped from 18.5% in fiscal 12 months 2020 to 21.5% in the primary quarter of fiscal 12 months 2021 — a 15.7% enhance.
To deal with this, the company mentioned it’s going to proceed to “examine the drivers of turnover and invest in opportunities that increase workplace benefits,” similar to aggressive compensation, pay parity for positions and telework alternatives.
Agency leaders beforehand testified earlier than state legislators, citing a preponderance of latest insurance policies and initiatives taking caseworkers away from necessary work.
“Staff turnover threatens client outcomes as well as agency effectiveness and efficiency,” the report mentioned. “It is in the best interest of the agency and our clients to increase stability and rebuild institutional knowledge by understanding the workforce climate and the agency’s needs.”
For the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services, a community of organizations centered on weak youngsters and households, the deal with workforce stability and improvement is ”large,” CEO Katie Rener mentioned.
“TACFS’s network of community-based organizations are greatly struggling to hire and retain workers to keep up with the community and state needs,” Rener mentioned. “We hope to work together with DFPS on action items to reinforce the DFPS and provider workforce.”
Rener mentioned she is glad to see DFPS and the Health and Human Services Commission working by means of established joint guiding rules.
“With multiple state agencies involved in children and families’ lives, shared principles and coordination enables us all to better serve,” Rener mentioned.
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