There’s nothing easy about the state’s heartbreaking foster care system

By Maresa Sisk marsisk@ttu.edu, Morgan Michalski mmichals@ttu.edu

There are currently 30,000 kids in foster care in Texas and 1,858 in the Lubbock-Amarillo region.

Two thirds are under the age of 10 and siblings are placed in different homes nearly 50% of the time.

Lubbock ranks No. 1 for child abuse cases in Texas, according to One Heart, a network of Lubbock-area churches, organizations and foster-adoptive agencies. 

“Honestly, I think the whole system needs a revision and there needs to be a lot more accountability, not the kids themselves, but the providers, the foster parents, the caseworkers and a lot of a lot more follow-ups as well to make sure that these kids are protected,” said Lanna Cornell, who has been working in the foster system since 2018.

Renee Tovar was placed in foster care at the age of five. She moved around between foster homes in Lubbock and Amarillo. 

Tovar was placed in foster care after her biological father called Child Protective Services on her mother after they divorced. He told CPS that her mother was on drugs, that Tovar and her two sisters were not safe in her care. 

When CPS conducted a welfare check, the children were quickly removed and placed in foster care.  

“CPS asked family members and friends what was happening and what was going on and so we were removed from the home because of drugs and not being in school with enough attendance,” Tovar said.

Tovar added that foster care was scary at first because they placed one of her sisters in a different foster home.  

It was difficult to adapt to other people's houses, routines, and rules, Tovar said, and especially difficult when she was placed in group homes with lots of other kids.

Both a mother and a sister

According to South Mountain Children and Family Services, foster homes provide temporary care for a child in a family setting with non-biological caregivers, while a group home is a staffed facility that houses multiple children, often with special needs or challenges. 

Tovar claimed she had to grow up quickly because she was the oldest sibling.  She felt she was both a mother and a sister. 

“I felt a lot of responsibility because I'm the oldest, so even though I was scared, I knew she had to be way more scared than I was, so I felt like I kinda didn't have time to show my emotions. I had to be strong for her,” Tovar said. 

Reunification with biological parents is a big priority for CPS. But Tovar felt when she and her sisters were allowed to see their biological mother, it caused a lot of stress. She had to constantly check whether her biological mother was following the rules, so when CPS showed up, they wouldn't be taken away again. 

“They always tried to reunify us, and we actually went back-and-forth three separate times,”Tovar said. “They gave her chances and she just couldn't keep doing the right things.”

Before Tovar and her sisters were adopted, her adoptive mother and father went to New Mexico to ask Tovar’s biological father if he was willing to give up his parental rights.  

“He was immediately on board,” Tovar said. “He didn't wanna keep doing the whole CPS thing and letting my mom try to get her life together. He just wanted us to move on with a different family. He remarried and had two kids with his new wife.” 

Aging out without resources

While living in foster homes can be a difficult transition for children, working in the foster system can be just as draining.

Cornell said she started working in after-school prevention programs in her teens and moved to foster care later in life. 

“I've also done behavioral boarding schools for adolescents sent away for behavioral problems, and I also did wilderness camps,” she said.

In her experience, many of the kids who age out of the system don't use extended care that is offered because they are tired of CPS, Cornell said. Extended care lasts either 18 months or until they’ve graduated from college.

Cornell feels the foster system doesn’t help as much as it could. 

“The issue is that these kids aren't being provided the information they need to know what support is available after they age out,” Cornell said. “They have extended care for foster care that the kids don't wanna go to, a lot of them have been in for what they say lifers, so they've been in since they were little.”

If they are lucky, they have a family member somewhere who can take them in, Cornell said, but that doesn't happen very often. 

“If they don't accept the extended care support they're offered, they are left to their own devices,” she said. 

Many of the children who age out have no training on how to be a responsible adult, pay bills, take care of themselves and get a job. Then they end up in prison, pregnant or both. 

Cornell believes that improving the system would involve directing funds to an account designated to each child's needs.

“It's frustrating because we talk about wanting to give these kids so much help,” Cornell said. “It's all about money and how much money you can get for the kids and then once they turn 18, you don't get any money for them anymore …  They are just left to their own devices.”

Cornell finds this heartbreaking.