Texas CPS boss Carey Cockerell is getting out just in time. Today, a DFPS press release announces Cockerell’s “retirement” effective August 31. One down. Thousands to go.
But note this, in the context of the $$$ thousands that the federal government pays to the states for each child adopted out of the foster care system:
AUSTIN – Carey Cockerell . . . will retire on Aug. 31 after overseeing a reform effort that led to dramatic declines in caseloads, an increase in adoptions . . .
Cockerell joined the agency in January 2005, just months after Gov. Perry had issued executive orders directing review and reform of the state’s protective services programs. During the 2005 legislative session, state lawmakers approved a $248 million Child Protective Services reform plan to add 2,500 caseworkers and support staff, strengthen management of the program and improve caseworker training. . .
Gov. Perry added 2,500 thugs to the CPS payroll. That’s 2,500 more meddlesome brutes to terrorize the best Texas families. Thank you, Gov. Perry. That’s wonderful. Here’s a thought: Why not just reduce the number of happy, healthy kids that CPS steals from parents?
Under Cockerell’s leadership:
Child Protective Services began an aggressive hiring effort to fill new positions and reduced investigation caseloads by 41 percent, from a daily average of 43.2 cases per worker in fiscal year 2005 to 25.3 cases in 2007.
I think the caseload number may be bogus. I’m checking on this one, but I believe one attorney told me that one of the FLDS caseworkers said she routinely carries 90 cases.
Adoptions of children in the Child Protective Services system increased 27 percent.
“I’m proud of the improvements we made in our programs, but I’m even prouder of the thousands of caseworkers and other staff who made it all possible,” Cockerell said. “They really came together and supported the rebuilding of the agency into one that was stronger and better equipped to protect Texans.”
Yes, I’ll bet he’s proud. Note well: Mr. Cockerell offers not a word of apology to hundreds of FLDS kids and parents wrongly separated by his gang. Who’s going to protect Texans from CPS?
Cockerell said he’s been thinking about retirement since late last year.
Uh huh. And after the FLDS fiasco, he’s thought about it real hard.
“I’ll soon be a grandfather, and I’m looking forward to a lot of quality time with my family after four decades of working in state and local programs.”
Well, I suppose. As long as no CPS mob spirits those grandkids away. I’ll bet they’d be really easy to sell.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Gravitas 06.27.08 at 7:41 pm
The numbers work. You increase the number of adoptions out of the system, and bring in 2,500 more thugs to handle the remaining caseloads, and what’ve yuh got? Dramatically decreased caseloads. And lots more money in the bank, thanks to the federal bounty on adoptions. It’s the bottom line, folks: profits. The merchandise, as someone has noted, is live children.
Who cares whose hearts are broken, or whose minds are permanently warped by the trauma? Not DHS, not the Governor, and not the State of Texas.
Appleblossom 06.27.08 at 7:48 pm
It is a sanitized version of white slavery. Why has no one called it that yet? It is trafficking in children.
None too sanitized at that, since there is a near certainty that children in the system will be sexually abused over time. They are statistically at greater risk than in their own homes, even when those are problem homes.
Toes 06.27.08 at 7:52 pm
So, should we work at getting the funding part of ASFA reduced? repealed?
Chai Tea 06.28.08 at 5:15 am
My heart just sank when I read about the number of adoptions increasing. For many of those adopted children there are broken hearted parents, grandparents, and siblings.
Go Texas…the armpit of the nation.
I seriously don’t know if this man is a ‘nice man’ with ‘good intentions’ or not, and maybe he is really getting out of that position because he can’t stomach the constraints he’s been under.
If he is a GOOD MAN who was in a BAD POSITION, we should be hearing some really interesting stuff soon. If he’s as corrupt as the Agency he led…well… don’t expect any best selling disclosures anytime soon.
JMR 06.28.08 at 8:29 am
Things that indicate a good CPS system
Number of children taken per capita down
Percentage of previous children retaken down
Percentage of previous substantiated abuse are followed by another instance after CPS services have begun is down.
Additional secondary indicators of a working system (as opposed to a system that is just takes children and doesn’t care about what happens:
Percentage of children placed with relatives is high or increasing
Percentage of children placed in permanent guardianship and adoption after TPR is high
[Adults leaving foster system have a transition safety net to enable them to complete HS and attend college and move into the work force (even if only as stay-at-home mothers), without needing other welfare or charity assistance. Potential measure of goodness is that] the percentage of prior foster children on welfare or assistance is down or is within the state normal for all groups.
The statistics cited for him look helpful but show he’s managing by the wrong numbers - either that or he knows he hasn’t really improved the system much.
Kurt Schulzke 06.28.08 at 9:08 am
Unless these numbers are audited by an independent agency, we should expect the positives to be overstated and negatives understated. What we do know is that CPS lies through its teeth whenever it suits their objectives.
kbp 06.28.08 at 11:45 am
JMR’s comment points out some good indicators I have not seen any numbers reported on. Maybe they’re out there some place.
The bragging points of Cockerell’s tenure looks to be limited to massive expansion and budget increases. Any department head looks good if people are throwing more and more money at them to spend.
But, when failures pop up, they’re without the excuse of a shortage in funding.
Growth seems all too often to be a greater priority than operations.
Kleiglights 06.28.08 at 12:31 pm
Whatever Cockerell’s successes or failures elsewhere in the Texas CPS, we know of one massive, damning failure under his watch: the unjustified, terrifying kidnap of nearly 500 children. Along with the ongoing, damaging and unreasonable abuse of the FLDS by CPS — when we AND THEY all know the original excuse was demonstrated to be a fraud.
The whole situation should have been brought to an abrupt halt — case closed, shut down, the instant it was shown to be based on a falsehood. At the very latest, that moment should have come when the Texas Supreme Court made its decision public.
In this regard, Cockerell’s tenure is an abject failure and nothing else he has done in his position can redeem him.
Kleiglights 06.28.08 at 12:33 pm
Postscript: There is one thing he can do retrospectively that would make a difference to his standing: he can blow the lid on CPS corruption and abuses. Sooner rather than later, Mr. Cockerell, please.
mypc1211 06.28.08 at 7:32 pm
I am surprised that cps has no accountability for this mess.
mypc1211 06.28.08 at 7:42 pm
We all know that adoptions for older children is not going up. they routinely warehouse the over 5 children since everyone wants a baby. If the flds kids were taken only the little ones would have been adopted. Leaving the older ones in the system to be abused..again by cps.
Toes 06.28.08 at 9:56 pm
Federal Statistics (http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/adoptchild06.htm)
These figures are based on last day of the state’s fiscal year, which in Texas is, I think, August 31.
Adoptions of Children with Public Child Welfare Agency Involvement By State FY 1995-FY 2006 -Texas
1995: 804
1996: 746
1997: 1,091
1998: 1,602
1999: 2,056
2000: 2,045
2001: 2,325
2002: 2,299
2003: 2,504
2004: 2,556
2005: 3,181
2006: 3,409
From 1995 to 2006, the number of adoptions more than quadrupled.
Add to those all the kids still in line!:
(http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/waiting2006.htm)
Children in Public Foster Care Waiting to be Adopted: FY 1999 thru FY 2006
(no data seen at this site for 1995-1998)
1999: 6,592
2000: 7,190
2001: 7,887
2002: 8,440
2003: 8,625
2004: 9,913
2005: 10,768
2006: 12,191
Kleiglights 06.28.08 at 10:24 pm
So it is no wonder the CPS and their cohorts from the BCFS were ripping weeping toddlers and infants out of their mother’s arms. They were taken even from women who in monogamous marriages. More merchandise to sell.
Talk about the slave trade in the Near East. How does this differ from Arab traders in centuries past taking blacks from Africa and putting them on slave ships across the Atlantic? It doesn’t, that’s how. Stolen children sold for dollars.
A concerned Conservative 06.29.08 at 7:35 am
What a FIASCO and sham that Governor Good Hair has turned out to be…he sends armored personnel carriers, (I got pics), into El Dorado to stop those evil LDS folks…of course he also sends Texas’s modern day GESTAPO, the inadequate and bungling Texas Highway Patrol, to secure all quarters and bring in the perpetrators! I thought I paid those idiots just to stop speeders on the highways?? Where is Phil Gramm when we need him? I say let’s kick out Governer Good Hair next election and lets get someone in there that is a true conservative…smaller, less intrusive government, fiscally smarter with our taxes, and someone that does not see a toll road behind every tree!!!!
CurioiusTexan 09.08.08 at 7:36 am
Guy Choate, a San Angelo attorney working for the state, said Texas will make every effort to reunite these families within a year.
But, former child case worker Johana Scott doubts the probability of that. “In 2007, only 30 percent of children were reunited with their families in a regular, normal CPS case,” said Scott.
Commissioner’s Report to the Advisory Council Jan 07
Commissioner Cockerell stated that several great things have happened recently with Child Protective Services (CPS). The US Department of Health and Human Services awarded DFPS 4.1 million dollars for our record number adoptions in 2005. 3,173 adoptions were consummated in 2005, and we expect to surpass that number for 2006. The Commissioner pointed out that while we are very proud of this award (one of only eleven states to receive this recognition), many children are still waiting for permanent homes; therefore, CPS supplemented National Adoption Month activities by kicking off its “What About Me?” campaign.
Commissioner’s Report Jun 07
Commissioner Cockerell stated that a detailed update was provided to the Council and key legislative offices this week. The Commissioner noted that in June, we were unable to locate appropriate placements for approximately 114 children, resulting in overnight stays in CPS offices. He reported that in May, CPS was unable to place 160 children in appropriate placements, so the numbers are coming down. The number for July (as of July 16) was 39 children who had spent at least one night in a CPS office.