_edited.jpg)
Foster Care Resources
Hammer Technical Services is dedicated to helping the foster care and family services community in Texas. We work continuously to gather resources and information to help connect people to foster care and connect foster care providers to help they need. Check back often for updates!
At One Simple Wish we believe that everyone should experience love, hope & joy. Join us in restoring happiness to those who have been impacted by the trauma of foster care and childhood crisis.
House and Senate Interim Charges Focus on Key Solutions
"Although the legislature convenes for just six months every two years, legislators, system partners, and stakeholders are working year-round to learn more and develop solutions to the issues impacting Texans. During the interim, the House and Senate each issue their own interim charges — these are issues that each chamber wants to focus on before each session. These interim charges allow legislators to focus on key issues across the state and to hone in on solutions for the next legislative term."
TACFS Board Members Voice Concerns, Solutions to Senate Committee
"TACFS Board Members Allicia Frye and Scott Lundy were invited to testify at a May 3 hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Child Protective Services, which Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick created it earlier this year. They highlighted several challenges facing community organizations that provide child welfare services — challenges including rising costs for staff and liability insurance, a funding model that does not reflect the true cost of serving children who have experienced severe trauma, and the process of navigating various levels of oversight. Watch Allicia Frye and Scott Lundy's testimonies on YouTube.
TACFS Provides New Safety Resources for Member Organizations
"It is with a great sense of urgency that we want to help foster care organizations reduce risk and prevent tragedies from happening. TACFS and the Single Source Continuum Contractors (SSCCs) that lead foster care in Community-Based Care regions are offering resources that will help detect and address threats to the safety of children in our care. The SSCCs are working with their networks of community-based organizations to expand the reach of these resources. Through an exclusive partnership with Praesidium, we have begun to offer organizations the following opportunities to assess and improve safety for children:"
Foster care in Texas working to fix problems, build on successes
Katie Olse, Nov. 2020
"...The system that serves 32,000 Texas children in foster care is filled with champions — families who open their homes to foster a brother and sister, nonprofit caseworkers who tirelessly call around looking for apartments for newly turned 18-year-olds who would otherwise be homeless, state employees who work long hours in emotionally draining circumstances, and grandmothers taking in kids whose parents are seeking help for substance abuse or other problems."
THE FIX | EPISODE 4 – REIMAGINING THE SYSTEM WITH TANYA ROLLINS
The Fix is a new video series from Texas CASA exploring issues in the foster care system that need fixing, and proposing solutions, in 5 minutes or less! In this episode, Equity & Inclusion Consultant and former CPS Disproportionality Manager Tanya Rollins, MSW speaks on the past and present of our foster care system, and how we can begin the work to reimagine a system that supports and validates all children and families.
WHAT’S THE LATEST ON THE DECADE-OLD FEDERAL FOSTER CARE LAWSUIT?
"In 2011, nine children who had experience with Texas’ long-term foster care system (also known as Permanent Managing Conservatorship or PMC) brought a class action lawsuit against the state, alleging that the system failed to protect them from an unreasonable risk of harm. A trial commenced in 2014, and in 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Janis Jack ruled in favor of the children, finding the system unconstitutional.
In her scathing, 255-page ruling, Judge Jack referred to heartbreaking testimony from the children involved in the lawsuit. She reprimanded the state for running a system where “rape, abuse, psychotropic medication and instability are the norm,” and where children “almost uniformly leave state custody more damaged than when they entered.”
Major Changes to the Texas Child Protection System Law (2017)
Understanding the Implications of SB 1896
Understanding the Implications of House Bill 567
Family First Prevention Services Act Funding & Legislation
Hammer Technical Services, inc is not affiliated with any of the above organizations. The information listed above is for reference and further education only.
Senate Special Committee on Child Protective Services 03/17/2022
The Special Committee on Child Protective Services held their first hearing on March 17th, 2022.
Senate Special Committee on Child Protective Services 05/03/2022
Special Committee Hearing on Child Protective Services. Speakers include Alicia Frye of Jonathan's Place and Scott Lundy of Arrow Child & Family Ministries
Senate Special Committee on Child Protective Services 05/16/2022
On March 11, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced the appointment and creation of a new Special Senate Committee on Child Protective Services, chaired by Senator Lois Kolkhorst.