County Child Abuse and Neglect Rate Double the State Average

Tom Green County has the 38^th highest rate of child abuse in the 254-county state, according to a recent report released by the Centers for Public Policy titled “The State of Texas Children”.

With a total of 483 verified victims reported in the county in 2013, Tom Green has a rate of child abuse and neglect of 17.9 per 1,000 kids aged 0-17 years, almost double the average state rate of 9.3.

The percentage outweighs other west Texas counties by a heavy margin, including Ector County, whose 662 confirmed cases put their 2013 rate at 15.9 and Midland, who reported only 335 cases at a rate of 8.9.

Also high was the rate of children reported to be placed in foster care in 2013, which came in at 13.2 per 1,000 inhabitants aged 0-17 as opposed to the state average of 4.3.

Despite the high numbers compared to other towns in west Texas and the state as a whole, local CPS agents are hesitant to say that the county has a more pronounced problem than other areas, but rather that cases are more expediently detected and reported.

“I would tell you that we have a pretty good group of workers here that have been doing this for a while,” said CPS Program Director for Investigations and Family Based Safety Services Isaac Lopez. “They’re able to get in and investigate and address different concerns. It may be a possibility of them knowing what to get in and look for as to why we have a higher rate versus another area…”

Reba Waller, CPS Service Program Administrator and Regional Operations Support Administrator, agreed with Lopez.

“I don’t know this for a fact, but when you talk about numbers being higher than others…some of that may go back to the fact that we do have such good working relationships with our community stakeholders and others…and they’re so aware of child abuse and neglect and the necessity of reporting that…people are reporting it more than they do in other areas,” she said.

Whenever a case of abuse or neglect is reported, investigators with Child Protective Services have 45 days to make a determination on how to handle the situation. Lopez explained that the process involves varying steps of assessment, and includes interviewing the child in the home, talking to schools, doctors, daycare officials and parents, and looking at things like criminal and CPS histories on the parent/caregiver.

After 30 days of assessment, CPS has 15 days to reach a decision on how to proceed with the case.

“We need to have a decision made by 45 days,” he explained. “We don’t, at times, take that long. If there’s very young children or we have older children that are at significant risk of harm by abuse or neglect, we can progress the case as soon as we determine it’s ready to go.”

In Tom Green County, Waller surmised, the majority of cases of abuse and neglect are reported in younger children as opposed to older ones, but CPS handles cases for all kids aged 0-17.

“I would say most of our cases—or a lot of them—would be concerning neglect and that would come into the supervision or the physical neglect of children due to drug use by a caregiver,” Lopez expanded. “[That’s] where we get involved a lot. I don’t have a certain percent, but I would say it would probably be higher with domestic violence coming in second…”

With substance abuse the top contributor to cases, Lopez said neglect tends to occur at a higher rate locally than physical or sexual abuse, and drugs are almost always an underlying factor.

“All of it tends to stem from some type of substance abuse,” he said. “We have a mixture of drug use. We do see a lot of methamphetamine use, heroin we’ve run into a couple of cases lately. It could be a mix of alcohol use with marijuana also included. I would say the most prevalent drug of choice would probably be methamphetamine at this point.”

When CPS determines an intervention is needed and a child is removed from a home, they try to keep the familial unit together if possible, Waller explained.

“It is always our goal if at any way possible to keep children with family or close friends of the family…” she said. “…there are some cases…that we’re not able to come up with any close relative to leave the children with, but that is always our first and foremost goal.”

CPS histories and criminal records can often limit the responsible adult pool agents can look to in order to place a child close to home, and if there is no one in the child’s life that can handle the responsibility, they’ll be put into foster care.

Locally, a foster family shortage has resulted in approximately 90 percent of children being housed out of county, imposing more difficulty on agents seeking to keep children close to their homes.

“Region 9 is really hurting for foster homes,” Waller said.

For more information on fostering and adoption in Tom Green County, read about the Heart Gallery or this profile of a local foster family. 

Those with knowledge of child abuse or neglect are urged to contact CPS or the police in case of emergency.  Abuse and/or neglect may be reported at 1-800-252-5400 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Those who report will remain anonymous. The Department of Family and Protective Services website provides a number of resources and information on child abuse and neglect, as well as contact information for various organizations. 

Below is a table depicting the number of confirmed child abuse and neglect cases and the rate per 1,000 kids for five west Texas counties, as well as the numbers for the state as a whole for 2013. The rate for 2012 has been added for comparison.