Foster Care System – Texas

Travis County foster care system is among the most efficient in Texas, report finds, By Tara Merrigan, June 6, 2012, Austin American-Statesman: “Associate Judge John Hathaway, who presides over most of Travis County’s foster care cases, says he sometimes feels more like a parent in his courtroom. ‘I feel like I’ve been raising some of these kids,’ Hathaway said. ‘I’m happy when they leave the system, but I also feel a loss with that loss of personal connection. I always tell them to come back and see me.’ This familiarity, engendered by a number of changes to the Travis County juvenile justice system in recent years, has helped make Travis County’s foster care system one of the most effective in Texas, according to a new report set to be released today. The report’s findings could help the state improve its struggling foster care system in a time of government cutbacks. The study, by Texas Appleseed, an Austin-based nonprofit legal group focused on social justice issues, found that a jurisdiction’s ability to place foster children in permanent homes was more closely tied to courtroom procedures than spending…”