DALLAS — U.S District Judge Janis Graham Jack did not mince words during a virtually held status hearing Monday morning involving the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and plaintiffs who are suing the state on behalf of children who are, or were, in the state's care.
The lawsuit, which has been ongoing for more than a decade, claims that DFPS fails to protect children in the state's care in a multitude of areas. As a result, the court appointed two monitors to lead investigations into the department and create reports that are presented to Jack every six months.
During Monday's hearing, Jack responded to what DFPS officials called a "request for more details" concerning the invoice from the monitors for their work during the month of March. Jack acknowledged that the amount the monitors billed the state for March was more than other months but said she reviews invoices before they are presented to DFPS.
An attorney for DFPS said the department is concerned about the number of hours the monitors are billing and whether they are using the hours to do work outside of investigating the specific remedial orders they are assigned to investigate.
"[The monitors] are serving the children better than you have," Jack said. "They have investigated and done more for those children than your investigators ever have."
The judge highlighted a number of anecdotal points in the monitors' reports where the team reopened investigations the department had closed, uncovered new information the department had not previously disclosed and even shut down multiple facilities for issues that had persisted under the state's watch.
"None of this would be necessary if it hadn't been for the failure of the state to provide constitutional protections for these children," Jack said.
The judge also expressed frustration that the monitors spent time addressing the department's concerns when they are also working on the report that will be presented in June.
“You are not monitoring the monitors. I am monitoring the monitors," Jack said while addressing DFPS during the hearing.
During the second portion of Monday's hearing, Jack responded to the state's move to file an objection to findings from a monitor's report last month that focused on mental health drugs used in residential facilities.
In a mid-April hearing, ahead of the June report, the monitors presented findings of medication mishandling within group residential facilities. Specifically, monitors found cases of children not receiving the correct dosage of medication they had been prescribed as well as children being prescribed four or more psychotropic medications without the required timeliness for a state-required review process for such prescriptions.
The state suggested that the findings do not fall under the initial remedial orders the judge assigned the monitors to investigate.
Jack directly addressed DFPS commissioner Stephanie Muth about whether she believes the mishandling of medication should be reported.
"This should be an easy question for you," Jack said.
DFPS told the court they were not expecting the topic to come up in the status hearing and were not prepared to address some of Jack's questions and specific document inquiries.
After going through multiple cases and reviewing the language of specific remedial orders, Jack stated that discrepancies and mishandling of medication for children in the state's care falls in the "abuse and neglect" category of the remedial orders and that she plans to deny any attempts from the state to avoid providing that information to the monitors.
The sixth full report from the court monitors will be held next month.
