The Texas Department of Family & Protective Services’ Child Protective Services (Texas CPS) has been working in collaboration with Casey to significantly shift its internal culture to one defined by family-focused practice. Joyce James, Assistant Commissioner for Texas CPS, realized that, to fulfill its mission effectively, Texas CPS would require a very intentional focus on systemic change and leadership development of CPS leaders both in State Office and its 11 CPS regions as well as strong collaborative approaches to its work. These areas of focus align with Casey’s efforts to address the foster care reduction goal of our 2020 work.
Through a lengthy and at times difficult process, Texas CPS has taken a very intentional look at the places where bias and institutional racism have been evident in the child welfare system. The partnership with Casey has been instrumental in educating social work staff and administration and working with the community to better meet the needs of children, youth, and families through a strong strategy specific to leadership development and community engagement. There is evidence of increased cultural competence as well as family-centered practice improvements.
But the journey isn’t over yet. Casey’s Texas State Strategy team works in collaboration with Texas CPS on numerous ongoing systems improvement efforts.