Movies Bout Familys That Loose There Kids to Cps
This article was published in partnership with the Houston Chronicle.
AUSTIN, Texas — Ann Marie Timmerman yet chokes up when she talks about the moment a Child Protective Services investigator showed up to have custody of her baby, only she tried to remain composed Tuesday every bit she stepped upwards to a lectern and described her ordeal to state lawmakers.
In 2016, she'd rushed her lethargic iv-month-old son to a Houston hospital, where she learned he had suffered a small amount of bleeding effectually his brain. A child abuse pediatrician told Child Protective Services, or CPS, that the injury could just take been the event of child abuse.
Based on that opinion alone — and without considering a report from a pediatric neurosurgeon who disagreed, saying the injury was probably the result of childbirth — CPS took emergency custody of the baby, records evidence.
"I stand in front end of y'all a mother that suffered the great trauma of having her medically frail infant ripped from her arms, all because of a single doctor's opinion," Timmerman told members of the Texas House of Representatives committee that oversees the country's child welfare system.
She was amongst several parents who traveled from beyond Texas to share like stories and urge lawmakers to laissez passer a bill, introduced by state Rep. Stephanie Klick, a Republican, that would require country CPS investigators to consider boosted medical opinions before taking children from their parents.
The legislation, which was drafted following a 2019 NBC News and Houston Chronicle investigation into the plight of parents who had been accused of abuse based on mistaken reports past doctors, is one of at least 17 bills working their ways through the Legislature that seek to overhaul the state's kid welfare system with the goal of protecting innocent families.
The NBC News and Chronicle reporting focused primarily on the work of child abuse pediatricians, a pocket-size but growing subspecialty of physicians who work closely with state kid welfare agencies. They provide expert reports and court testimony in thousands of cases every year, shielding untold numbers of abused children from boosted harm. Merely when the evidence is not articulate, the investigation found, a mistaken or overstated diagnosis of child abuse can devastate a family unit.
Ane of the Texas bills inspired in part by the reporting, introduced by Republican Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, would require a state commission to study the work of state-funded child abuse pediatricians and advise improvements to the process that CPS follows when relying on their medical reports. Another bill, introduced past Republican Rep. James Frank, would meliorate the definition of physical and medical neglect to preclude CPS from separating families in cases in which at that place is non evidence that children are in "immediate danger."
Most of the proposals have been introduced by members of the Legislature's Republican bulk, but several have the back up of Democrats, part of a growing bipartisan movement aimed at preventing traumatic and unnecessary family separations like those highlighted in the NBC News and Relate investigation.
"One thing we have talked about a lot is 'Are we doing more harm to the kid through the removal?'" said state Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat who has signed on equally co-sponsor of Frank'due south bill. "Y'all're going to cause trauma when you lot remove a kid, and is that trauma worth it?"
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has signaled support for reforming the child welfare system in this legislative session, merely his office has not publicly weighed in on specific legislation. Although some of the bills working their way through committees might ultimately be consolidated, pinnacle lawmakers said there is strong momentum to pass significant changes this year.
Child welfare advocacy groups in Texas have broadly endorsed the goal of preventing needless kid removals but have also raised concerns about the potential unintended consequence of leaving vulnerable children in homes that plow out to be unsafe. Will Francis, who heads the Texas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, said any changes to CPS' duties should come with funding to support families in need of help.
"If y'all want families to do the best possible job they tin can raising their kids, yous have to give them tools," Francis said. "You tin't only look the other manner and say nosotros're non going to consider this abuse and fail anymore."
Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which oversees CPS, said the agency does non annotate on proposed legislation or its handling of individual cases.
Dr. Natalie Kissoon, a child abuse pediatrician from San Antonio, and Stacy Wilson, president of the Children'southward Infirmary Association of Texas, raised concerns during Tuesday'due south hearing that Klick's pecker to enable parents to request second medical opinions, as currently drafted, could lead to delays in removing children from dangerous homes. They argued that child abuse pediatricians already consult with specialists earlier making conclusions almost whether a child's injuries are consistent with abuse. And they said no doctor tin can take a kid from parents; that power rests with CPS and the courts.
Simply Wilson acknowledged that some of the stories shared by parents during the hearing were concerning, and she agreed that some changes may exist warranted.
"Conspicuously, what yous've heard here today, the process broke downward and it does need to be improved," Wilson said. "And nosotros are supportive of that."
Klick said the goal of the legislation is to add together "checks and balances" to CPS' decision-making. The NBC News and Chronicle investigation highlighted several cases, including Timmerman'south, in which CPS took children based on kid abuse pediatricians' reports, despite conflicting evidence and differing opinions from other medical specialists.
Klick'southward bill would let parents who have been defendant of abuse based on reports from kid abuse pediatricians to asking second medical opinions from qualified specialists and require CPS to consider the second opinions. Klick said the legislation was a stride toward acknowledging a reality affecting all fields of medicine: Doctors tin can get it wrong.
"Second opinions are standard practice in medicine, and this bill brings the same practice into this specific area," Klick said.
Timmerman, who plans to render to Austin in the coming weeks to speak in back up of other bills to brand changes at CPS, told the committee that Klick's legislation would have made all the deviation in her case.
Months after CPS took custody of her baby, Tristan, 3 outside medical experts reviewed his medical records and, like the neurosurgeon who had initially treated him, saw no reason to conclude that he had been abused. They constitute that the infant suffered from an underlying medical condition that most probable led to the haemorrhage effectually his encephalon. It took 7 months and price the Timmermans $200,000 in legal fees to regain custody and clear their names.
"Families deserve due process and 2nd opinions," Timmerman said. "If all of Tristan's medical diagnoses had been considered under the conditions of this proposed beak, due process would take been given to our family by allowing unbiased 2d opinions that ultimately would accept prevented his removal."
Ajshay James lost custody of her ii-yr-old daughter after doctors at Texas Children'southward Hospital in Houston defendant her of giving the child unneeded medical treatments in 2017. The NBC News and Relate investigation institute that doctors repeatedly overstated the evidence against her, although the infirmary has defended its handling of the case.
James, who has regained custody of her daughter, cried equally she described her long legal battle. She told lawmakers that, as far as CPS was concerned, the opinion of the child abuse pediatrician was all that mattered.
James asked the committee to protect "those of usa who had done the right thing, those of u.s. who had trusted the medical professionals, those of us who had the scarlet letter imposed upon u.s.. Do the right thing, delight, and allow us to have due process."
Sharde Butler came from Houston to speak in support of the bill. She attended the hearing with her two young children, who were separated from her for well-nigh two years later a child abuse specialist at Texas Children's told CPS in 2017 that her baby son's back and caput injuries looked like abuse and could not take been the result of her husband's accidentally dropping him. Texas Children'due south has defended its doctors' handling of the case, noting that Butler's child suffered serious injuries and that "mandatory reporting to CPS was required."
Follow-upwardly examinations at some other hospital revealed discrepancies in the medical reports provided to CPS, raising questions about the abuse diagnosis, merely Butler told lawmakers that the bureau and the gauge presiding over her case refused to return the children.
"We would become to court and our judge would tell usa that information technology didn't matter what we said, that he simply listened to the child abuse doctors," said Butler, whose ordeal was chronicled in the 2020 NBC News and Wondery podcast "Do No Harm."
Butler and her husband regained custody of their children just afterwards a new guess took over the case and agreed to consider all of the medical prove. She said that her family is still struggling to recover from the trauma but that she hopes her story tin can inspire changes.
"I missed my son's first birthday, I missed his kickoff Christmas, I missed his get-go Thanksgiving," she said. "I tin't ever get that back."
Keri Blakinger and Cayla Harris reported from Austin; Mike Hixenbaugh reported from Houston.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-lawmakers-weigh-changes-protect-families-wrongly-accused-child-abuse-n1262537
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