DALLAS (AP) — A judge has ordered Texas to make sweeping changes to its foster care system two years after she found it unconstitutionally broken.
U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack on Friday issued her final order in the case regarding those in long-term foster care. She told the state an overhaul must include improvements in record keeping, caseworker visits and where children are placed.
The ruling follows her December 2015 opinion in which she wrote that those labeled permanent wards of the state “almost uniformly leave state custody more damaged than when they entered.”
Jack then appointed two experts to help craft an independent overhaul. State officials have fought the judge’s oversight, saying they’ve been working on their own changes.
The state filed notice of appeal shortly after Jack’s order Friday.