We encourage the Texas Legislature to remove as many barriers to adoption as possible and to make the process less intrusive while protecting children’s safety and best interests. We urge the Texas Legislature to adopt the following steps to promote adoption:
a) Expand community-based care: Increase partnerships with local private and nonprofit charitable organizations to create a safer and more responsive system.
b) Require a guilty verdict before placing individuals in the Central Registry: Currently an unsubstantiated accusation of abuse or neglect can lead to Texans’ being listed in a government database and cause them to lose jobs and suffer other penalties without ever being found guilty by a court. In some cases, even those found innocent remain listed on the database. No Texan shall be deprived of liberty or their right to earn a living without a fair hearing.
c) Expand service options: Improve care for families of children at risk of entering foster care by providing more choice and flexibility for family preservation services outside of the current state-contracted services.
d) End hidden foster care: Many families are threatened and coerced into giving up custody of their children without ever going to court. Texas shall protect parents’ rights and end coercive agreements by limiting CPS’s ability to separate families without court oversight.
e) Repeal anonymous reporting: False reporting of families to CPS can lead to great harm and a large waste of resources. False reporting can be prevented while increasing the accuracy of reports to CPS by eliminating the option of anonymous reporting in favor of confidentiality. Professionals who must report suspicious activity shall be trained on alternatives to filing a CPS report and permitted to refer struggling families to community service providers.
f) Make the adoption process more affordable, streamlined, and accessible.
g) Provide more support to adoptive children and biological and adoptive families, such as access to affordable mental health care.
h) Work to destigmatize adoption for both birth mothers and potential adoptive families.
I) Increase funding to foster care background checks and wellness checks, including interviewing children in foster care.
We urge communities and people of faith to promote adoption and, for those not called to adopt, to offer assistance to families that can. We believe that, in the best interests of the family and child, the State of Texas should allow children to be adopted only by married or single heterosexuals.