HOUSTON — Parties on both sides of a 13-year legal battle over failures in foster care in Texas are anticipating what comes next in the suit after a major ruling in the case from a federal appeals court earlier this month.
Jacqueline Juarez is waiting to see, too.
The 19-year-old, who lives in Houston, has been following the case for years.
For Juarez, it’s been about more than fiery exchanges between U.S. District Judge Janis Jack, who’s overseen the case since it was filed in 2011, and attorneys representing the state. It’s more than the status hearings held every six months to ensure the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and the Texas Health and Human Services are complying with Jack’s orders to improve the system.
The issues laid out in this suit closely mirror the issues she faced during the seven years she was in foster care in Texas.
“I went through a lot of things that no kid should go through,” Juarez said. “I wasn’t really supported by the people I thought were going to be there who promised me a better life, a better home and failed completely.”
Juarez was brought into the state’s care when she was 11. According to her records, investigators discovered she was being physically and sexually abused by her mother and her mother’s boyfriend.
Juarez, who turned 19 earlier this month, said she remembers feeling hopeful when she was taken into custody.
“I trusted them with, you know, being in a better place, and they actually turned it into another horrible part of my story,” Juarez said. “They really failed. With me, they failed completely.”
Last December, Jackie Juarez was one of more than 20 witnesses attorneys representing Texas foster children called to testify in a hearing to prove that the state was in contempt of court for violating Judge Jack’s orders to properly investigate allegations of abuse and neglect made by foster children who are living in state-run facilities.
Juarez, the only former foster child to testify in the hearing, gave arguably the most compelling testimony as she detailed years of overmedication, physical violence from other children without adult intervention and even an instance of inappropriate contact from an adult staffer.
“I don’t want the kids that are coming in to care to go through the same thing that I went through,” Juarez said. “I want it to be different. I want them to have a better life in care than there was when I was in care.”
A detailed account of Juarez's testimony can be read here.
Juarez’s testimony, along with the testimony from the 20 other witnesses, ultimately led Judge Jack to rule that the state was in contempt of her court. She ordered the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, specifically, to pay a fine of $100,000 a day.
The state appealed that decision shortly after and requested a new judge for the case, arguing that Judge Jack was not impartial and favored the plaintiffs and that the state had adequately complied with her remedial orders to improve the system.
This month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the state and handed down a ruling that reversed Judge Jack's contempt ruling and ordered the chief justice of the Texas Southern District to assign a new judge to the case.
Juarez’s entire time in care was eclipsed by this lawsuit and the changes to the system that have come with it.
“What gave me confidence in this case is when I seen Judge Jack,” Juarez said. “I remember she called me up to the stand, and she told me ‘Thank you, you’re brave for doing this’ and I remember telling her ‘Don’t let the kids down’, and she said ‘I won’t’. I know she’s going to do the right thing, and I believe that she knows what she’s doing and that she knows there are kids who need her help, and she’s going to help them.”
Juarez keeps an eye on the headlines and articles documenting the case because she hopes to see changes for the thousands of children in care, including younger friends she made while in the system.
When asked about the ruling from the Fifth Circuit, Jackie said the decision "wasn't fair" and said she believes the state "didn't want to take responsibility for what they did."
As for her own life, she’s moving forward.
She opted into DFPS’s extended foster care program, an opportunity to receive medical and academic support resources to help former foster children transition into adulthood.
She said she received pushback for testifying.
“Somebody told me that after all the benefits I had just received turning 18, they couldn’t believe I was still talking bad about CPS,” Juarez said. “They said, ‘We helped you to a certain point…we got you all of this…you’re getting your college paid and you’re still talking about this.’”
She tells her story anyway.
“They can take all the benefits away, but you’re not going to stop me from talking the truth about CPS and what y’all are really doing,” she said.
Jackie is using her benefits to finish school. She plans to go on to law school, become a lawyer and defend children with stories like hers. She also wants to write a book about her life—a story of triumph.
“I love myself. I care about myself, and that’s all that matters,” Juarez said. “I had people who said they were going to love me and they were going to take care of me and they failed me, but I’m not going to fail myself.”
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