Transgender Youth: Family Services in Texas ‘on the Brink of Collapse’ by Calling for Child Abuse Investigations in Gender-Affirming Care for Minors, Employees Say

The brief cites a “series of departures” within the agency since then. an order has been issued By February, it claims the remaining workers will be spread dangerously thin.

A summary of amicus curiae (Friend of the Court) was filed with the State’s Third District Court of Appeal. under consideration Whether the policies mandated by Gov. Greg Abbott, prompted by Attorney General Ken Paxton’s opinion, were lawfully implemented.Governor and his DFPS are attractive A March decision by an Austin District Court judge suspended policy enforcement. In May, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the DFPS can continue to investigate families suspected of seeking gender-affirming care pending an appeal. At the time, DFPS confirmed that about nine family members were under investigation.

When DFPS caseworkers leave, those who remain will be forced to do more work, court filings say.They further allege that the agency has been unable to meet its “standards of care” for years and that state policies toward transgender children have “brought it to new abyss.” also alleges that the directive was illegally enacted because the state did not go through the formal process required to create a new policy. claimed There was no need to do so as the Directive is an interpretation of existing policy and not a new rule.

“Prior to February 22, 2022, in the history of the DFPS, we examined parents who simply followed medically recommended care prescribed by a physician and were deemed ‘child abuse’ with the child’s consent. There was no incident,” the filing said.

Half of the DFPS employees who signed the court filing are no longer with the agency, and some have resigned in protest of the policy. Most of those still employed by the DFPS, he said, submitted anonymously “to minimize the risk of retaliation.” According to the gist. One of his retired Child Protection Agency agents is a transgender man, documents say.

The complaint asks the Court of Appeals to uphold the lower court’s decision to temporarily bar enforcement of the policy, despite DFPS’s appeal. The Court of Appeal has not yet set a date for oral argument in this case.

A DFPS spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday on briefs from DFPS workers.