Judges call for changes at agency
February 11, 2005
Far too often, state caseworkers fail to notify the courts that their clients are in danger.
Written by John Moritz, Star-Telegram
AUSTIN - Three judges whose job it is to appoint guardians for frail and elderly Texans at risk of abuse or neglect told lawmakers Thursday that far too often, state caseworkers fail to notify the courts that their clients are in danger.
"This agency ... needs your strong hand of supervision," El Paso County probate court Judge Max Higgs told the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. "It needs your will to destroy the institutional culture, which has misserved Texans."
The committee, headed by Lewisville Republican Jane Nelson, is in its second week of hearings on a proposed overhaul of the state agency that runs Adult Protective Services and Child Protective Services.
Both agencies are being criticized because of several high-profile incidents in which people in their care have died because of neglect.
Higgs was joined by probate court Judges Pat Ferchill of Tarrant County and Mike Wood of Harris County, who said the safety net in place to protect vulnerable Texans is laced with holes.
Ferchill told the panel about an elderly Tarrant County woman in the care of her mentally ill daughter. The older woman had been dead in her easy chair for several days without the daughter realizing it, Ferchill said.
APS caseworkers who visited the woman months before had apparently overlooked the seriousness of her situation, but did notice that her home was in disarray, and hired a crew to clean it, he said.
"So APS left an at-risk incapacitated elderly woman with a cleaner house," he said.
An investigation ordered last year by Gov. Rick Perry determined that APS would need $34.1 million over the next three years to hire more employees, improve training and provide better technology for caseworkers.
State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, who is leading the Senate effort to overhaul APS, said the price tag will likely be higher.
His plan calls for hiring more caseworkers, improving their pay and training and expediting the appointment of guardians for adults at risk.
Perry ordered the review in April after Higgs sent him details of elderly people living in homes without water, electricity or gas, and filled with garbage and human waste. The conditions were so bad in some cases that the seniors resorted to living in their vehicles.
Committee members were shown a video illustrating those findings. APS employees justified leaving people in those conditions by describing them as "lifestyle choices."
Nelson was astounded. "How can a person look at that and not tell that a person's life is in danger?" she said. "I don't understand."
Nelson has promised to have legislation addressing the deficiencies in the agency ready for the full Senate's consideration later this month.
Perry has declared the matter a legislative emergency, meaning that it will be fast-tracked to his desk.
Related Stories
Fair Use Notice
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.