CJA TASK FORCE MEETING July 12, 2019, 9:00 am-1:00 pm Sheraton Austin at the Capitol 701 East 11th St., Austin, TX 78701
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Agenda……………………………………………………………………………… 1
Task Force Roster…………………………………………………………………. 2
Meeting Minutes (April 12)…..…………………………………………………… 4
FY19 Second Quarter Program Updates………...... ……………………….….. 7
FY19 Third Quarter Program Updates……...…………………………………... 11
FY19 Grant Project Summaries………....……………..………………………... 16
FY2019 Budget…………………………………………………………………… 34
Grants Committee Report………………………………………………………. 35
FY2019 Grant Application Scoring Form……………………………………….. 39
FY2019 Grant Proposal Summaries….………..………………………………... 42
CJA Membership Committee Report…………...……………………………… 54
Slate of Nominations for New Members………………………………………... 57
Slate of Members for Re-Election...……..………………………………………... 62
CJA Task Force Bylaws…………………………………………………………... 63
Recent Articles…………………………………………………………………… 71
Children’s Justice Act Task Force Quarterly Task Force Meeting July 12, 2019 9:00 AM‐ 1:00 PM
AGENDA
8:30 Networking Breakfast
9:00 Welcome and Introductions – Aurora Martinez Jones
9:05 Approval of April 12, 2019 meeting minutes – Action Item
9:10 Legislative Recap: Lisa Harst, Strategic Partnerships Associate, Children's Advocacy Centers of Texas
9:40 Grantee/Budget Update – Heidi Penix/Steve Geiser
9:50 Break
10:00 FY19 Grants Discussion – Action Item
10:45 Membership Committee Update – Action Item
11:00 Statistical Analysis of the Links between Child Exploitation and Hands on Child Abusers – Dan Powers & Jeff Rich
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Adjourn
1 TX Children’s Justice Act Task Force Members 2018‐2019
Aurora Martinez Jones, Chair Meredith Chacon, Vice‐Chair Stephanie Stephens, Chair‐Elect Associate Court Judge Director of Special Projects Assistant County Attorney Travis County Civil Associate Courts ChildSafe Nacogdoches County Attorney’s Office Austin, TX San Antonio, TX Nacogdoches, TX 512‐854‐2484 210‐208‐5772 936‐560‐7788 [email protected] meredithc@childsafe‐sa.org [email protected]
Isidro Alaniz Tymothy Belseth Kriste Burnett District Attorney Research Coordinator District Attorney Webb Country District Attorney’s Office University of Texas at Austin, Texas 29th Judicial District Laredo, TX Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing Palo Pinto, TX 956‐523‐4912 Austin, TX 940‐659‐1251 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]‐pinto.tx.us
Ed Drain Sonya Eddleman Jon Evans Chief of Police CARE Team Clinical Coordinator Attorney and Counselor at Law City of Amarillo Driscoll Children’s Hospital Austin, TX Amarillo, TX Corpus Christi, TX 512‐476‐4075 806‐378‐3055 361‐739‐0293 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Jesse Gonzales, Jr. Denise Hyde Ann Johnson Attorney at Law Attorney at Law Attorney at Law Fort Stockton, TX Austin, TX 78701 Johnson Martinez LLC 432‐ 940‐5646 512‐474‐9911 Houston, TX [email protected] denise@hyde‐law.com 713‐523‐5000 [email protected]
Natalie Kissoon Gil‐Rey Madrid Lindsay Mullins Child Abuse Pediatrician Assistant Superintendent Executive Director, State Government Center for Miracles‐Children’s Hospital pf Fort Stockton Independent School District Affairs San Antonio Fort Stockton, TX BNSF Railway San Antonio, TX 432‐336‐4101 Austin, TX 210‐704‐3878 [email protected] 512‐473‐2823 [email protected] [email protected]
Cordelia Perez Dan Powers Joy Rauls Sergeant Chief Operating Officer Executive Director City of Laredo Police Department Collin County CAC Children Advocacy Centers of Texas Laredo, TX Plano, TX Austin, TX 956‐242‐1624 972‐633‐6615 512‐258‐9920 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
2 TX Children’s Justice Act Task Force Members 2018‐2019
Monica Reyes Connie Ricketts Jeff Rich Parent Liaison Executive Director Detective, Criminal Investigations Division The Children’s Partnership/Travis County CASA of Galveston County Plano Police Department Health and Human Services Galveston, TX FBI VCAC Task Force Austin, TX 409‐572‐2552 Plano, TX 512‐854‐7872 [email protected] 972‐941‐2631 [email protected] [email protected]
David Rodriguez Dustin Rynders Elizabeth Senger Director of Investigations Staff Attorney Chief Executive Officer Texas Education Agency Disability Rights Texas El Paso Center for Children Austin, TX Houston, TX El Paso, TX 512‐463‐9734 713‐974‐7691 915‐269‐1148 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
Vicki Spriggs Jim Sylvester Hon. Angela Tucker CEO Associate Commissioner of Investigations Judge Texas CASA, Inc. Texas Department of Family and Protective 199th Judicial District Court – Collin County Austin, TX Services McKinney, TX (512) 473‐2627 Child Protective Services 972‐548‐4415 [email protected] Austin, TX [email protected] [email protected]
Staff Heidi Penix Steve Geiser Program Director Grant Administrator (512) 482‐8986 512‐482‐8986 (517) 974‐8009 cell [email protected] [email protected]
3 MINUTES of Texas Children’s Justice Act Task Force Meeting Date: April 12, 2019
Call to order: A regular meeting of the Texas Children’s Justice Act (CJA) Task Force was held at the Texas Association of Counties Building on April 12, 2019. The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Heidi Penix with Task Force Chair‐Elect Stephanie Stephens presiding.
Members in attendance: Tym Belseth, Kriste Burnett, Ed Drain, Jon Evans, Ann Johnson, Gil‐Rey Madrid, Lindsay Mullins, Cordelia Perez, Connie Ricketts, Dustin Rynders, Vicki Spriggs, Stephanie Stephens
Members not in attendance: Isidro Alaniz, Meredith Chacon, Jesse Gonzales, Denise Hyde, Aurora Martinez‐ Jones, Dan Powers, Joy Rauls, Monica Reyes, Jeff Rich, Elizabeth Senger, Jim Sylvester, Angela Tucker
Also in attendance: Catherine Bass, Steve Geiser, Christina Green, Lisa Harst, Lindsay Jordan, Heidi Penix, Monica Ruiz, Jeannine Von Shultz
Welcome and Introductions: By CJA Task Force Chair‐Elect, Stephanie Stephens. Ms. Stephens welcomed those in attendance and introductions were made around the room.
Approval of Minutes: CJA meeting minutes from January 25, 2019 were disseminated to Task Force members for review on April 9, 2019. Kriste Burnett made a motion that the minutes be accepted. Vicki Spriggs seconded the motion and the minutes were approved unanimously.
Membership Committee Report – Action Item: The Membership Committee discussed at the January 25th Task Force meeting and in a subsequent conference call how to fill the recent health professional vacancy. The committee chose to nominate 2 individuals to serve in this role: Sonja Eddleman who is a SANE nurse and Dr. Natalie Kissoon, a child abuse pediatrician. Nomination forms were provided in the Task Force materials. Kriste Burnett made a motion that the two nominees be approved. Vicki Spriggs seconded, and the nominees were approved unanimously.
FY 19 Grantee & Budget Update: Ms. Penix provided an overview of progress by CJA subgrantees for quarter 2 and reviewed the grant budget for FY 2019.
Project Spotlight: CACTX Medical Pilot – Lindsay Jordan: Through its FY 2019 CJA grant project, CACTX initiated a pilot project to examine medical evaluation data from 4 participating CACs located in Comal, Smith, Tarrant and Collin counties to investigate why Texas has a low rate of referrals for child abuse medical evaluations. In 2012, CACTX determined that in Texas 21% of child abuse intakes received a medical evaluation compared to 34% nationally. The following year, the University of Texas School of Social Work conducted a study to identify factors causing the low examination rate. Some of the barriers that came to light included a lack of consistency in decision‐making around when children should be referred, complicated billing structure, absence of providers, misunderstanding of what a child abuse medical evaluation entails, and lack of awareness about the benefits of an examination.
In 2014, to help address questions about when to refer children for medical evaluations, CACTX worked with Texas Pediatric Society and Children’s Hospital Association of Texas to create guidelines containing specific referral criteria. However, the guidelines did not result in an increase in referrals. A survey of CACs conducted in 2017 indicated that the referral rate had dipped to 16%. For the 2019 pilot study, participating CACs were asked to track intakes meeting each of the referral criteria listed in the 2014 guidelines as well as the number of children who received evaluations:
Criteria A: When a child is first encountered by a non‐medical MDT member and has not yet had a medical evaluation after an injury or outcry of abuse.
4 Criteria B: When a child has been treated for suspected abusive injuries by a medical provider, including a first responder (EMS), who is not part on the MDT. Review of the case by the MDT’s medical consultant is recommended. Criteria C: Other specific situations that should be reviewed with the MDT medical consultant to determine the need for medical evaluation.
Data was collected in Q1 of FY ‘19 and analyzed in Q2. The results showed that 32% of intakes met Criteria A and 72% of intakes met any of the Criteria A‐C. For children meeting Criteria B and C, pilot CACs were not asked to track data on consultations that might have taken place with a medical provider, so it is unknown how many of these cases represent instances where a child needed a medical evaluation but did not receive one. In its concluding analysis, CACTX determined that the goal of CACs should be to get the rate closer to the 32% who meet Criteria A since these are children who most need exams. Additional data is needed for children who meet Criteria B and C to learn more about their outcomes and determine whether they are experiencing gaps in services.
CACTX Mental Health Services Survey & Legislative Update – Lisa Harst: CACTX recently conducted a survey of all 71 CACs to gauge the need for mental health services as well as the availability of resources. Results indicate that a clear majority of CACs face a shortage of clinicians and long waits for mental health services. There are currently more than 1000 children on waitlists to see a CAC mental health clinician. Seventy percent of centers had a waitlist of at least 1‐2 weeks and 25% had wait lists that were longer than 1 month. There is also great need for services to reach adults. Ten centers reported that they typically see 50‐100 new adult clients per month. Additionally, one third of CACs don’t employ a staff clinician. Addressing this gap in availability of needed resources is important because receiving mental health services has a positive impact on the lives of children and their non‐offending caregivers. After 12 sessions with a clinician at a CAC, 52% of children no longer displayed post‐traumatic stress and 71% no longer had symptoms of depression.
Ms. Harst next provided a status update on child welfare related bills in the current session as a follow up to the legislative update at the January Task Force meeting. Some of the child welfare bills still being considered by the legislature include HB 4183 which would require a 5‐year strategic plan for preventing and treating Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). House Bill 1029 would allow defense attorneys to have tangible copies of CAC forensic interviews. Senate Bill 71 would create a statewide telehealth center for sexual assault forensic medical examination within the Office of Attorney General to expand access to sexual assault nurse examiners for underserved populations. House Bill 616 would require law enforcement agencies to document their decisions regarding request for a forensic medical evaluation. Additionally, HB 616 would allow hospitals and SANEs to directly bill the Crime Victim’s Compensation fund for forensic medical exam expenses. Senate Bill 821 would clean up sections of the Texas Family Code that address CACs to ensure that the statute aligns with current practice. House Bill 282 would require training on trauma informed response to victims of sexual assault for all law enforcement officers.
Project Spotlight: Bexar County Child Fatality Review Team Coordinator – Monica Ruiz & Jeannine Von Shultz: Jeannine Von Shultz is the Deputy Chief of Mental Health Services at Bexar County Juvenile Probation and supervises the CFRT project. Ms. Von Shultz began with a brief overview of the project and described the contracting relationship between DSHS and Bexar County Juvenile Probation. Monica Ruiz has been the Bexar County CFRT Coordinator since June 2018. Initially, Ms. Ruiz’s most pressing task was to ensure that data from all unnatural child deaths in Bexar County were properly entered into the National Child Death Reporting (CDR) System. The CDR report form is 24 pages long for each case and requires detailed information only available from Child Protective Services, medical examiners, and law enforcement records. When Ms. Ruiz began, cases going back to 2015 were either not entered or the status was incomplete. Gaining access to the necessary records required her to build relationships with the appropriate stakeholder organizations and ensure that her points of contact were familiar with the section of the Texas Family Code that requires agencies to share their records with the CFRT. To date, all unnatural death cases from 2015‐
5 2017 (243 total) have been entered in the CDR system. Additionally, 71 case entries have been completed for 2018 while the CFRT continues its review of 2018 cases.
The CFRT meets on a monthly basis for two hours and typically gets to review 10‐12 cases in that time. There are approximately 100 cases for the CFRT to review in order to be up to date. Both Ms. Von Shultz and Ms. Ruiz reiterated the importance of having a full‐time staff person working on these tasks. Coordinating the review meetings, gathering the records, doing the data entry and maintaining relationships is extremely time consuming and could not be successfully accomplished by someone working in a volunteer capacity in addition to their regular job.
The CFRT has recently added a subcommittee on natural deaths that began meeting in December 2018. To date, 30 natural death cases from 2018 have been reviewed and 21 have been entered into the CDR system. Looking to the future, the subcommittee intends to review and enter natural death cases before 2018. Ms. Ruiz has also been collaborating with the Bexar County Fetal Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) team to help coordinate their reviews since the two committees deal with a lot of overlapping issues and stakeholder groups. As the CFRT continues to build on its work, Ms. Von Shultz and Ms. Ruiz anticipate using data to identify trends in child deaths that can guide the work of partner agencies and community organizations to help further efforts that will prevent deaths.
Overview and Discussion of FY 19/20 Grants Process – Heidi Penix: Ms. Penix shared the upcoming RFA with the Task Force and gave an overview of the upcoming grants process.
Adjournment: The Task Force meeting adjourned at 12:10 p.m.
6 CJA FY19 Quarter 2 Program Updates
Organization: Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences (CJA‐19‐01) Project: Multidisciplinary Approach in Investigating Child Abuse: Is There Opportunity for Early Recognition and Prevention? Total Award: $119,129 HCIFS received approval from the DFPS to access CPS reports and scene photos for all pediatric cases in the IID. CPS information for 94 of the 605 cases included in this project have been entered into the IID. HCIFS continues to work with DFPS to establish a sustainable means of communication between HCIFS and DFPS after the completion of the project. Currently, the FTE conducts bi‐weekly data collection sessions at the DFPS office in Houston, TX. Kathryn Sibley is working to establish HCIFS access to the CPS reports through a virtual private network (VPN). HCIFS has embarked on a collaborative project with Drs. Edwina Popek and Eumenia Castro, pediatric pathologists at TCH. The project will examine bone histology slides of the costalchondral junction of the infant rib. These slides were prepared during CJA grant 14‐03. The purpose of the project is to develop a bone histology baseline for normal infant bone. Drs. Castro and Popek continue to progress on this project and have developed a scoring system to quantify their observations. Data has been collected from approximately half of the slides.
Organization: CACTX (CJA‐19‐02) Project: Strengthening Capacity and Leveraging Existing Resources to Improve the MDT Response Total Budget: $570,401 Total Award: $250,000 CACTX has completed a data analysis of Statewide Intake Reports from the first quarter of FY 19 for Comal, Smith and Collin Counties and has learned that at least 32% and possibly as many as 72% of intakes reviewed during the pilot involved a child who met criteria for a medical evaluation. CACTX plans to work with additional centers who are in the process of expanding their medical programs to implement a similar data collection project as a starting point to inform their plans for program expansion. CACTX is exploring the expansion of telehealth for sexual assault exams in conjunction with Senate Bill 71. CACTX worked with the bill author and TAASA to incorporate CACTX as one of the entities that will be consulted during implementation. CACTX has held an initial planning session to assess gaps in training and resources for MDT members and MDT staff. This included discussion on the following: current training and resource offerings and current challenges faced by CAC MDTs. Next steps are to identify action steps with a timeline for the potential areas of focus. CACTX is exploring efforts to build sustainability of local CACs with a focus on developing a comprehensive and proactive framework to: onboard and support new Executive Directors; provide tailored support for CACs in leadership transition; foster and support strong local Boards of Directors, and; provide leadership training and skills across the network. Current efforts are focused on identifying and articulating core competencies of Executive Directors and subsequent alignment of training to support development of these competencies for staff and boards.
7 CJA FY19 Quarter 2 Program Updates
Organization: CACTX (CJA‐19‐03) Project: Law Enforcement Capacity and Statewide Child Sex Trafficking Response Total Award: $249,755 The shared awareness video is complete and CACTX sent the video to all Statewide MDT members to share for Child Abuse Awareness Month. CACTX has received positive feedback on the video and shared the video through CACTX’s social media efforts. In one week, the video has almost 900 views. Several SMDT members are featured in the video. One SMDT member was immediately able to show the video during a meeting with community members to discuss child abuse. A representative from the Baptist Network was there and the loved the video and are going to send it to all of the Baptist Churches in the area for their use. CACTX is contracting with a former CAC Executive Director to facilitate a workgroup to determine next steps for: regional law enforcement taskforces and the virtual help desk for law enforcement. Internally, CACTX is assessing law enforcement data collection systems to determine next steps. CACTX is conducting an internal review of all law enforcement child abuse trainings and have been in contact with key external stakeholders, including Texas Department of Public Safety and TCOLE, to assess and identify curriculum that are in need of updates. Texas Christian University is continuing to collect data and receive feedback to inform a survey for their research in assessing law enforcement resources needed for child abuse investigations. TCU is in the process of submitting information to TCU IRB for final approval.
Organization: Shaken Baby Alliance (CJA‐19‐04) Project: The Forensic Investigation in Child Physical Abuse, Child Fatality & Child Neglect Cases – Making a Difference Together Total Budget: $25,891 Total Award: $19,996 MONTAGUE COUNTY: Collaborations have been developed with the Montague County Sheriff’s Department (Sheriff Marshall Thomas), the District Attorney (Casey Polhemus), and the Bowie Police Department (Chief Guy Green). A date of June 27‐28, 2019 has been chosen for the two‐ day training. Marketing Flyers have been finalized and are being printed at this time. We will begin distribution of them on May 1. MAVERICK COUNTY: Collaborations have been developed with District Attorney Roberto Serna and Ranger Joe Sanchez (who is the person who originally requested the training be brought to Eagle Pass/Maverick County). District Attorney Serna indicated that he would prefer sending a letter to the members of the Multi‐Disciplinary Team and inviting them to the training rather than doing a marketing campaign and online registration. He indicated that his community of child abuse professionals respond well when he invites them. Mr. Serna further indicated he would like to host the training and he will choose the facility and indicated he may utilize the Tribal Nation of Kickapoo Casino as they have meeting space available there. We have narrowed the training dates to 3 dates and Mr. Serna is working to determine the exact date.
8 CJA FY19 Quarter 2 Program Updates
Organization: Texas Legal Services Center (CJA‐19‐05) Project: Family Helpline Total Budget: $374,842 Total Award: $100,000 This quarter, staff attorney Kim Isham traveled to visit CPS courts in Montgomery, Galveston, and Liberty Counties. In Q2, the Family Helpline’s legal intern spearheaded a project to research various parenting class providers throughout the state and communicate with the providers about the Family Helpline to ensure that families served by those organizations are aware of the service. Outreach materials were provided to more than 35 different courts and organizations during Q2 and additional mailings are planned to more than 100 organizations in Q3. In an effort to share information about the Family Helpline in counties where the service appears to be under‐utilized, the Family Helpline partnered with a local Austin marketing firm in an outreach campaign to local newspapers and radio stations in targeted counties largely located in CPS regions 1, 2, 8, and 9 as well other counties with high numbers of CPS investigations, but low number of calls to the Family Helpline. The Family Helpline completed a total of 601 calls from 501 individual callers. 480 calls were initial first time calls and another 121 were repeat calls. 480 individuals called for the first time and 58 individuals called back with further questions. Total number of calls in Q2 affected 536 adults and 828 children. The majority of callers called about an active CPS case with these calls falling into the following CPS stages in descending order: investigations (111), CPS has Temporary Managing Conservatorship of the child(ren) (83), family based safety services (44), CPS stage unknown (34), CPS has Permanent Managing Conservatorship of the child(ren) (10), court ordered services (4), and alternative response (2). An additional 106 callers called about a closed CPS matter and 98 callers did not have any active or past CPS involvement, but were calling about a child safety issue. After each call, Family Helpline attorneys enter data and call notes into our case management system, Legal Server. During the course of this quarter, the data entry process was changed to improve efficiency and enhance the ability to capture call data. The current data entry system is significantly more streamlined and efficient than previous data entry processes. The Family Helpline managing attorney continues to thoroughly review call notes each quarter to determine opportunities for attorney education and development to ensure that Helpline staff consistently provides the most accurate legal information to callers. Areas for increased educational and professional development are shared individually with attorneys as well as during staff meetings.
Organization: Garth House (CJA‐19‐06) Project: Capacity and Competency Building of the MDT Total Award: $20,000 The Southeast Texas Regional Summit was held on January 10, 2019 with over 100 attendees and was facilitated by The Office of the Governor’s CSTT, the Jefferson County DAO, and Garth House. This was the first basis of a full‐scale regional response. It was held to announce the creation of the STAAT and assist in its development of a comprehensive response to trafficking. On January 31, 2019, Garth House sent CSEC Specialist Kara Harrington and Family Advocate Samantha Harrison to Austin, TX to complete a CSE‐IT Train the Trainer (T3) course. Ordinarily,
9 CJA FY19 Quarter 2 Program Updates
this training offered through West Coast Children’s Clinic (WCCC) only qualifies attendees to train within their own organizations. Fortunately, WCCC and the Governor’s Child Sex Trafficking Team (CSTT) formed an agreement this spring that allows children’s advocacy centers to train across agencies. In addition to Garth House’s newly created capacity to conduct ongoing CSE‐IT User Trainings across the region, WCCC is bringing two days of CSE‐IT trainings (both User and T3) to Beaumont on April 24‐25, 2019. Completion of this training will result in: 25 new CSE‐IT trainers, 75 new CSE‐IT users. In the second quarter, Garth House completed 45 CSE‐IT screenings with approximately 25% of children scoring “clear concern” or “possible concern” for trafficking. In the future, these scores will trigger care coordination services for a child. Until care coordination is in place the following things (or combination thereof) are done when a score falls in these categories: investigators are provided with the CSE‐IT results and additional trafficking information, caregivers and child are referred to Harvest House, and/or specialized case reviews are held. Harvest House is an anti‐ child sex trafficking nonprofit in Beaumont, TX and provides prevention education and specialized, on‐call child advocates for identified victims of sex trafficking. In an effort to plan strategically for the care coordination program and Garth House’s capacity to operate it, CSEC Specialist Kara Harrington has traveled to Houston and will soon travel to Dallas to observe their programs and sit in on rapid response calls and CST‐specific case staffings. These program observations provided Garth House with a framework to estimate needed staff positions for the program: CST Program Director, Care Coordinator, and a CST‐Specific Family Advocate.
Organization: SAFE Alliance (CJA‐19‐07) Project: Engaging Communities to Increase Access to Justice for Child Victims with Disabilities Total Award: $118,099 This project is currently delayed as the first candidates interviewed for the Community Engagement Specialist tasked with implementing project activities either did not have the required skills or accepted other positions. It is anticipated that the Community Engagement Specialist will be hired by mid‐April. The Project Director will reach out to the relevant stakeholders in New Braunfels and Comal County during the next quarter to determine best method for establishing baseline measures of cases of victimization of children with disabilities reported, investigated, and prosecuted. The project partners (SAFE and The Arc of Texas) established that we will offer two day‐long, free trainings for New Braunfels and Comal County partner agencies and community stakeholders‐ using already developed/existing curriculum designed specifically for 1) law enforcement, attorneys, and victim service/disability service workers (Pathways to Justice Training); and victim service, disability service, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders in the community (The Road to Recovery). These trainings focus on increasing knowledge and providing strategies for responding to and investigating abuse cases of child victims with disabilities in knowledgeable and trauma‐informed ways.
10 CJA FY19 Quarter 3 Program Updates
Organization: Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences (CJA‐19‐01) Project: Multidisciplinary Approach in Investigating Child Abuse: Is There Opportunity for Early Recognition and Prevention? Total Award: $119,129 Two training sessions were conducted on June 3, 2019 for newly hired HCIFS Death Investigators. The investigators were trained how to implement the Infant Death Supplement and received instruction on social work interviewing techniques. A total of 12 new investigators attended the two sessions. Two training sessions were conducted at the Children’s Assessment Center on June 14, 2019. The first session targeted law enforcement and the second session targeted hospital staff. Both sessions discussed medical examiner jurisdiction, medical examiner process, necessary information for reporting deaths to HCIFS, important scene observations (unsafe sleep environments), physical assessments of infant decedents, doll re‐enactments, and the role of the Victim Assistance Specialist on scene. Alterations were made to the proposed child fatality medicolegal (death) investigation training targeting the Justices of Peace in Texas. In lieu of the training, a presentation will be given to the Justices of the Peace at a Legislative Update session scheduled for July 24 in Clear Lake, TX. The presentation will introduce the Infant Death Investigation Training Program and include a discussion with the Justices of Peace to gain perspective into their training needs. The suggestions will be incorporated into the web‐based training and used to develop an in‐person training that will be added to the 2020 curriculum of the Justice of the Peace Training Seminars offered by the Texas Justice Court Training Center. All Texas Children’s Health plan data were received for decedents meeting the inclusion criteria for the research project by Dr. Angela Bachim in November 2018. Dr. Bachim developed a data collection instrument for the IID. Texas Children’s Hospital records for the IID cases have been reviewed and data cleaning and final coding is almost complete. Upon completion, analysis of the antemortem medical data in relation to the cause and manner of death will proceed. Review of the antemortem medical records for 592 of the 605 IID cases on the project list is complete. Of the 592 reviewed cases, 265 (44.8%) had medical records in the Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) system. One hundred and fifty three cases (25.8%) had a primary care physician (PCP) from TCH. Medical records for one hundred and sixty one cases (27.2%) in the IID were associated with TCH health plan insurance coverage. Lastly, medical records for 92 cases (15.5%) were found in both the TCH system and the TCH health plan data. While statistical analysis has not been completed, Dr. Bachim’s qualitative review of the medical records suggests there may be an association between “silence” and infant death. Silence is defined as missed well checks, no show appointments, and referrals for which appointments were not made.
Organization: CACTX (CJA‐19‐02) Project: Strengthening Capacity and Leveraging Existing Resources to Improve the MDT Response Total Budget: $570,401 Total Award: $250,000 CACTX attended the Texas Pediatric Society meeting in April, presented the data captured in the analysis to the child abuse subcommittee, and discussed the need to reformat the guidelines into a more easily accessible and distributable format. A workgroup agreed to take on this
11 CJA FY19 Quarter 3 Program Updates
project with the goal of completing it by October. CACTX is working closely with this group throughout the process. CACTX is discussing plans to pilot a training offering for local CACs/MDTs in FY20 that will include information on recently passed legislation impacting child abuse medical evaluations and that will also provide teams with an opportunity to review and discuss updates to their working protocols in light of recent changes in legislation as well as recent changes to the Medical Standard for Texas CACs. CACTX introduced several topics to the Statewide MDT this year for potential discussion, including the MDT response to physical abuse investigations and the MDT response to child fatality investigations. The topic of physical abuse investigations became linked to the topic of child fatality investigations. Next year, CACTX will engage SMDT members in further discussions of child fatality investigations. The SMDT will meet four times next year, rather than three, in order to ensure ample time is available to discuss this critical topic. CACTX has identified four CACs to participate in the pilot to measure case processing time. The CACs are reflective of rural, mid‐size, suburban and urban areas. In FY19 Q4, CACTX will work with CACs to determine appropriate information to track in Collaborate. The CACs will begin tracking the information in FY20 Q1. CACTX is continuing to work with DFPS and Network Ninja to integrate data into Collaborate. On July 2nd, CACTX staff met with the DFPS Deputy Chief Operating Officer and the Chief Information Officer to discuss data integration. DFPS has recently begun reviewing all third‐party data sharing collaborations and has implemented new security practices. CACTX will work with DFPS’s information and security officer to change the current data feed from the Case Tracking System to Collaborate and to complete the new DFPS Security Assessment.
Organization: CACTX (CJA‐19‐03) Project: Law Enforcement Capacity and Statewide Child Sex Trafficking Response Total Award: $249,755 Work Group members from the Statewide MDT seem united in regard to the fact that, while law enforcement Task Forces or Response Teams sound good on paper the reason they aren’t often developed and implemented is because they rely so heavily on (1) Strong relationships among agencies; (2) Ability to get past politics among agencies; (3) Ability to overcome law enforcement culture – “my town/my case” mentality. Consequently, successful development of Task Forces or Response Teams would likely need to happen on a case‐by‐case or community‐ by‐community basis (vs. developing and piloting a model that could then be replicated across the state). Virtual Help Desk: Work Group members indicate there could be value in the development of easily accessible resources that patrol officers and investigators could tap when they are working child abuse cases (given the reality that, in many communities, they are the ones who will be assigned these cases – regardless of the fact that there may be a training/expertise gap). Utilization of these (or any) resources would be dependent on them being (1) easily accessible; (2) relevant for their community and agency culture; and (3) strongly supported and promoted by leadership within the agency. CACTX is currently working with Texas Christian University to finalize the resource/time capacity survey. CACTX will partner with TCU to distribute survey to law enforcement agencies through local CACs in FY20 Q1.
12 CJA FY19 Quarter 3 Program Updates
CACTX is meeting with a contact from TCOLE this summer to develop a plan to update law enforcement curriculum. CACTX will work with external SMEs to identify gaps and update law enforcement child abuse trainings and curriculum. The Texas Sheriff’s Association accepted a CACTX presentation proposal related to the complexities of child abuse for their annual conference in July 2019. CACTX continues to develop relationships with other stakeholders to initiate partnerships and explore additional engagement opportunities, including submitting other proposals for presentations for conferences and meetings. CACTX staff met with the Governor’s Office on April 24th to finalize a toolkit to formalize the CAC role in CST care coordination. CACTX is working with the Governor’s Office to plan an additional two regional trainings for MDTs. CACTX is actively working with each community within the proposed expansion plan to assess gaps and identify needs to implement CST care coordination response.
Organization: Shaken Baby Alliance (CJA‐19‐04) Project: The Forensic Investigation in Child Physical Abuse, Child Fatality & Child Neglect Cases – Making a Difference Together Total Budget: $25,891 Total Award: $19,996 The Montague County training was held on June 27‐28, 2019 in Montague, TX. SBA provided the two‐day training to 22 professionals including 7 DFPS employees, 14 law enforcement officers, and 1 attorney. Training #2 in Maverick County (Eagle Pass), TX is currently scheduled for August 15‐16, 2019. Through our partnerships with District Attorney, Bobby Serna, he has secured a facility at no charge. Mr. Serna has secured partnerships with the Sheriff’s Office and the Eagle Pass Police Department and both will be contributing to the success of the training. SBA’s partnership with Ranger Joe Sanchez in Maverick County has resulted in Ranger Sanchez offering to teach a block of the training. SBA continues to be asked to provide training in both rural and urban settings. They have scheduled a training in San Antonio, TX on September 9‐10, 2019 in partnership with ChildSafe, UT Health San Antonio, The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, and forensX, LLC. In addition, at a previously funded CJA training (Florence, TX April 2018), a participant who liked the training apparently has recommended the SBA to produce an agenda for a local child abuse conference in Fargo, ND.
Organization: Texas Legal Services Center (CJA‐19‐05) Project: Family Helpline Total Budget: $374,842 Total Award: $100,000 This quarter, staff attorney Kim Isham traveled to visit CPS courts in Johnson, Tarrant, Wise, and Taylor Counties. The Family Helpline’s main outreach activities continue to be through direct mailing of outreach materials to various organizations that serve families and in‐person outreach in connection with CPS court visits. Interestingly, during the month of June, they received a surge in email requests for outreach materials from various CPS offices through the state. They also generally find that organizations they connect with are excited to share information about TLSC services with
13 CJA FY19 Quarter 3 Program Updates
families the organizations serve. One service provider in Houston noted that our service was “an answered prayer.” The Family Helpline completed a total of 761 calls from 685 individual callers. 660 calls were initial first time calls and another 101 were repeat calls. This quarter, Helpline staff attorneys completed 160 more calls than in the previous quarter of this fiscal year, which is an approximate 20% increase in call volume from the previous quarter. Total number of calls this quarter affected 726 adults and 1,136 children. The top 4 trending issues discussed this quarter, which were discussed with at least 200 callers in descending order from highest to lowest are: CPS investigations, parent visitation issues, modification of conservatorship orders, and reporting abuse and neglect to CPS. The following 5 issues were discussed with at least 100 callers in descending order from highest to lowest: conservatorship issues, substance abuse, CPS obtaining temporary managing conservatorship of child, laws involving enforcement of visitation rights, and obtaining temporary restraining orders in family court. The following 15 issues were discussed with at least 50 callers descending order from highest to lowest: domestic violence, safety plans and parent child safety placements, conservatorship rights and duties, prevention of child abuse and neglect, obtaining an original custody order, CPS temporary managing conservatorship placement issues, non‐custodial parent v. custodial parent issues within a CPS investigation or FBSS case, CPS closed case issues, legal removal of child by CPS, laws and issues regarding attorney appointment and representation, service of process, physical abuse of child, violation of a conservatorship order, termination of parental rights, and family based safety services. The following 5 issues were discussed with at least 40 callers in descending order from highest to lowest: mental health, protective orders, sexual abuse of child, placement issues within a CPS case, and legal intervention in CPS court case.
Organization: SAFE Alliance (CJA‐19‐07) Project: Engaging Communities to Increase Access to Justice for Child Victims with Disabilities Total Award: $118,099 During this reporting period, SAFE recruited, interviewed, and hired the Community Engagement Specialist position for this grant— Rashid Amrani‐Khaldi. Rashid has been an elementary school educator for most of his career and for the past few years was employed by The University of Texas Charter Schools. Rashid was a Special Education teacher at SAFE’s on‐ site charter school. After 19 years in the classroom and working with child victims with disabilities—Rashid has changed focus and was looking for how he could work with community initiatives in support of systems level and policy changes that would ultimately benefit children with disabilities and child victims with disabilities. The timing seemed just right for Rashid to come onboard for this important initiative. During this quarter, Rashid and the Disability Services Director co‐facilitated a half‐day launch, luncheon, and planning event with the project’s primary partner The Arc of Texas (TAOT). This meeting was attended by Michelle (Shell) Schwartz (SAFE), Rashid Amrani‐Khaldi (SAFE), Kyle Piccola (TAOT), and Alex Cogan (TAOT). The partners reviewed the primary project goals, objectives and specific activities planned for this work. As result of the work session, a next steps action plan was created and various activities and roles were assigned. A first step was to begin meeting face to face with stakeholders in New Braunfels and Comal County.
14 CJA FY19 Quarter 3 Program Updates
Project staff also held several in‐depth planning sessions with project partners, The Arc of Texas and the Arc of Comal County. During this reporting period, staff developed a one‐page flyer to introduce stakeholders to the project. Project staff reached out to contacts in New Braunfels‐beginning with those agencies and professionals that provided letters of interest/support for the project: New Braunfels Police Department, The Arc of the Hill Country, The Children’s Advocacy Center, and The Crisis Center of Comal County. Staff will continue meeting with these groups across the next quarter. Project staff will interview other SAFE staff and partner agency TAOT staff to collect data on cases of abuse against children with disabilities in Travis County. SAFE will also work with DFPS, CPS to try and gather this information on a state level—if this data is tracked. Project staff met in New Braunfels with several stakeholders who are onboard and are currently seeking a location to host our first training on August 8th and 15. The Arc of Comal County’s (TAOCC) Executive Director, Lisa Reddam, shared her belief that the McKenna Foundation in New Braunfels will be interested/willing to co‐host the two training events. Lisa, with TAOCC requested that she be the person to reach out to the McKenna Foundation in the interest of strengthening TAOCC’s relationship with this foundation. SAFE should have information about the foundation’s interest/willingness to co‐host by early July.
Organization: Bexar County Juvenile Probation (CJA‐19‐08) Project: CFRT Coordinator Pilot Project Total Award: $20,000
The Coordinator continues to improve the quality of completed fields with improved timeliness and quality of cases. All 2015 through 2017 have been entered. The Coordinator has entered 120 completed cases for FY 2018. FY 2019 has 17 completed cases entered into the database. Cases continue to be entered within 30 days of review. The Coordinator is also entering data for the natural death cases. Approximately 52 cases have been reviewed and are in the process of being entered into the national database. The cases being reviewed range in years from 2016 to present. The Coordinator has entered the following natural death cases into the National database: 2017‐ 13 cases have been entered; 2018‐48 cases have been entered; 2019‐ 7 cases have been entered. During this reporting period the Coordinator has taken a more active role in the FIMR team. The Coordinator attended a two day workshop conducted by National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention. The CFRT Coordinator continues to regularly meet with FIMR representatives so that they may abstract subsequent information in order for them to attempt maternal interviews for the Natural Death Review Committee. The CFRT continues its partnership with the Alamo Area Teen Suicide Prevention Coalition, the National Alliance on Mental Illness – San Antonio and Education Service Center Region 20 to provide regional school districts with information regarding the increase in suicide deaths among teens and suicide prevention resources. The Coordinator recently began attending the Domestic Violence Taskforce and the Bexar County Abusive Trauma Committee monthly meetings. The Coordinator continues to be successful when requesting medical records in order to conduct a thorough Natural Death Review meeting. The Interagency Agreement has been finalized and has been sent to partner agencies for review and signature.
15 CACTX FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
Organization: Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas (CACTX)
Project Title: Strengthening Capacity and Leveraging Existing Resources to Improve MDT Response
Project Budget: $250,000
FY19 Budget: $467,274
The goal of this project is to improve the MDT response to child abuse cases through increased training efforts of MDT members and CAC MDT staff.
Proposed Activities and Rationale/Outcomes and Impact
Health Care Professional
Experts have recently stated that while there is a need for more health care professionals with specialized training in child abuse medical evaluations, increasing the capacity of health care professionals will be ineffective if there are not increased referrals for medical evaluations. Once referrals are increased, more training and resources are needed to support health care professionals.
In order to address health care professional capacity challenges and leverage existing resources, there is a need to focus on the following:
a. Identify how many children require a medical evaluation. While the percentage of children receiving a child abuse medical evaluation in Texas is lower than the national average, there is no data to support how many children should have a medical evaluation. b. A comprehensive guide for when MDTs should refer for a child abuse medical evaluation was created in 2015. However, in a recent survey, very few MDTs know about this valuable resource. This guide was officially endorsed by the Texas Pediatric Society and the Children’s Hospital Association of Texas and should be used as a starting point for every MDT when determining if a child needs a medical evaluation. c. MDTs have access to a few technological applications for medical evaluations: Forensic Assessment Center Network (FACN) and the Child Protector phone app. However, there has been limited exploration of the use of telehealth or mobile equipment for these exams. CACTX will explore the use of these options to increase access for medical evaluations. d. Support the use of dedicated medical advocates at local CACs to ensure that a staff member is responsible for promoting child abuse medical evaluations with the MDT and facilitating referral. e. Many providers have stated that one potential barrier in recruiting professionals to conduct child abuse medical evaluations is trepidation about the criminal justice process, including testifying in court. Training and support for these professionals is needed to allay their concerns.
FY19 – Development
16 CACTX FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
CACTX program staff will launch a pilot with local CACs to assess the percentage of children who should receive a medical evaluation based on information contained in Statewide Intake Reports. CACTX program staff will develop a pocket guide of the comprehensive referral guidelines for child abuse medical evaluations. CACTX program staff will explore the use of telehealth and/or mobile equipment for child abuse medical evaluations. CACTX will develop training and resources for medical coordination staff.
Courts
The “strength of the child witness” is critical in prosecuting crimes against children. If more support is given in this area, prosecutors can leverage the additional capacity this will provide. The following activities will support efforts to strengthen child witnesses and provide training and resources for prosecutors:
FY19 – Development
Strengthen child witness:
Update child friendly courtroom bench book, which will include any legislation passed in the 86th Legislative Session. Develop resources and training modules for mental health providers when working with children who must testify in court. Develop resources and training modules for family advocates when working with families to ensure support throughout the process.
Training for prosecutors:
In partnership with TDCAA, develop online training modules for prosecutors, specific to crimes against children.
Case processing time:
CACTX will initiate a pilot to measure case processing time in rural, mid‐sized, suburban, and urban areas.
Death Investigations
In order to assess uniformity of child death investigations, CACTX proposes the following activities:
FY19 ‐ 21
Work with MDT members to determine factors that need to be tracked to analyze child fatality investigative activities. Conduct a pilot with local CACs to track factors determined to impact child fatality investigations.
17 CACTX FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
Analyze data collected to determine next steps to improve child fatality investigations.
MDT
There are several national and statewide membership associations for the various disciplines on the MDT that often have child abuse related training offerings. There are also national and regional training and support organizations with many child abuse related training offerings and resources. While there is a vast amount of training and resources available, it can be difficult for MDT members to identify and access it easily.
The CAC model, unlike any other nonprofit victim service agency, has been invited into the criminal justice and civil systems by the MDT partners entrusted with seeking justice and safety. This hardwiring of CACs into to the criminal justice and civil systems necessitates that the foundation of CAC organizational capacity is strong. Building CAC sustainability is, in and of itself, a sustainability strategy for each of the resources listed above. The network of 71 CACs will ultimately keep the fire lit for the goals achieved during this project so that the impact can last for years beyond the project timeline and hopefully growing to the next level locally. As such, this component is not only inherent to the success of this project, but to the longevity of all initiatives pursued.
Through this project, CACTX will complete the following activities:
FY19‐21
Perform inventory of resources available for MDT members. Evaluate best method for distributing information, including possible website to host online repository, dependent upon resource requirements. Assess gaps and develop and implement additional training and resources for MDT members and MDT staff. Explore, develop, and implement efforts which build sustainability of all local CACs in Leadership and Governance: o New Executive Director training and support o Executive Director transition support o Local and Regional board training and support o Customized and targeted support for high‐risk CACs
18 CACTX FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
Organization: Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas (CACTX)
Project Title: Law Enforcement Capacity and Statewide Child Sex Trafficking Response
Project Budget: $749,265
FY19 Budget: $249,755
The goal of this project is to address statewide law enforcement capacity challenges in the investigation of child abuse cases and to coordinate an effective statewide child sex trafficking response through existing CAC MDTs.
Proposed Activities and Rationale/Outcomes and Impact
Law Enforcement
In FY17, there were 66,034 cases assigned for investigation of sexual abuse and priority one physical abuse by the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). These cases typically fall within the case criteria to receive a CAC MDT response as they require action by the civil (DFPS) and criminal justice (law enforcement) systems and thus need a joint investigation. In Texas, the infrastructure to facilitate joint investigations is housed within the network of CACs. Unfortunately, in FY17 only 54% of these cases benefitted from the collaborative CAC approach. One of the factors that contributed to this is a dearth in law enforcement detectives for these cases which virtually eliminates the possibility for a joint investigation. Given that law enforcement agencies and prosecutors largely operate at the city and county level, unlike what has been seen recently in addressing DFPS’ needs, there is not a systems‐level conversation taking place which could (1) bring awareness to the criminal justice system’ role in child protection, (2) identify gaps, and (3) address barriers in meeting a vision for child protection in our state which contemplates both safety and justice.
To address law enforcement capacity challenges, the minimal level of general awareness for law enforcement’s critical role in child abuse investigations must be elevated:
Making the case for the need to increase capacity: o Explain the complexity of the issue through awareness and education materials/video that could be shared by all partner agencies with leadership and decision makers in their orbit. o To quantify the complexity of these cases, conduct a resource/time capacity study to assess how long a child abuse investigation takes and determine the adequate resources needed. o Identify gaps in law enforcement data collection and determine solutions to address those gaps. This cursory step must be taken if we are to understand and quantify, at a systems level, the breadth and depth of responsibility law enforcement shoulders in protecting children. Utilization of innovative strategies: o Explore and pilot regional law enforcement task forces for crimes against children, both in rural communities, combining resources for several counties and in urban/suburban areas, combining resources of several, smaller law enforcement jurisdictions.
19 CACTX FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
o Explore and develop/pilot virtual help desk for law enforcement, especially those in rural areas who are tasked to investigate all types of crimes, which makes it difficult to specialize and obtain the expertise required in a crimes against children investigation. There is also a need to leverage existing resources to ensure law enforcement expertise: Conduct an assessment of all law enforcement child abuse trainings and organizations who provide training. The goal of the assessment is to gain a better understanding of law enforcement training and provide recommendations on the most effective and efficient delivery of those trainings. Current curriculum will also be assessed and CACTX will facilitate curriculum updates of existing law enforcement training (e.g., LEMIT, TCOLE, TMPA) While it is critical that law enforcement detectives are trained, it is also important for law enforcement leadership to understand the complexity of child abuse investigations in order to impact more resources going towards these investigations. Chiefs, Sheriffs, Assistant Chiefs, and Deputy Sheriffs have training/meetings specifically for them which should include information regarding crimes against children. FY19 – Development
o CACTX program and communication staff will identify an external vendor and launch project to develop a shared awareness/education materials/video. o CACTX program staff will meet with subcommittees of the Statewide Multidisciplinary Team to assess: . Next steps in developing a pilot/s for regional law enforcement taskforces. . Next steps in developing a virtual help desk for law enforcement. . Law enforcement data collection: systems, definitions, and requirements CACTX program staff will develop project timelines/activities for each sub‐bullet above.
o CACTX will contract with subject matter experts to facilitate assessment of law enforcement child abuse trainings and curriculum updates as needed. o CACTX program staff will evaluate resource/time capacity studies conducted in other sectors to determine how to proceed in conducting a study to assess law enforcement resources needed for child abuse investigation. o CACTX program staff will continue to conduct regional/statewide meetings for stakeholders, including municipal and county leadership. FY20 – Implementation o CACTX will launch shared awareness/education materials/video. o CACTX will pilot regional law enforcement taskforces. o If determined to be appropriate, CACTX will develop a virtual help desk for law enforcement. o CACTX will contract with faculty members to conduct 15 trainings for law enforcement. o CACTX will provide training and resources for law enforcement leadership and how to provide training/resources to increase education regarding child abuse investigations. o CACTX will launch efforts to adjust enforcement data collection in order to work towards more uniformity. o CACTX complete resource/time capacity study. o The activities above may be dependent upon identifying additional funding needed for implementation. FY21 – Evaluation
20 CACTX FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
o CACTX will contract with faculty members to conduct 15 trainings for law enforcement and evaluate effectiveness of training curriculum. o CACTX will evaluate use of shared awareness/education materials/video by determining: . Partner agency use of materials/video . Audience reach o CACTX will evaluate law enforcement taskforces through pre/post survey with participants and data collection crimes against children investigations for participating jurisdictions. o If determined to be appropriate, CACTX will evaluate use of virtual help desk. o CACTX will evaluate how many law enforcement jurisdictions make adjustments to data collection efforts as well as adjustments made at the federal level. Overall outcome: Through multiple efforts over the course of the grant period, CACTX will increase awareness of law enforcement’s critical role in child abuse investigations. Impact: Through post surveys, CACTX will assess:
If more law enforcement personnel were dedicated to crimes against children investigations. If law enforcement personnel received more specialized training and resources for crimes against children investigations.
Child Sex Trafficking
CACTX has been in formalized discussions with the Office of the Governor’s Child Sex Trafficking Team (CSTT) regarding a statewide child sex trafficking response since April 2017. Since that time, the CSTT has worked with urban areas within the state to develop a coordinated care response to child sex trafficking. As these efforts in urban areas begin to take shape, CACTX and the CSTT have been working on the development of a plan to reach other areas of the state through the existing CAC network. This will require significant efforts from CACTX to:
Work with local CAC staff who may provide coordinated care duties, Facilitate and conduct trainings for MDT members and stakeholders, Facilitate and conduct meetings with MDT members and stakeholders, Provide technical assistance to local CACs and MDTs, and Work closely with the Governor’s Office CSTT.
Child sex trafficking is a priority for the Governor’s Office and it is important that efforts made to serve these victims be incorporated into current MDT efforts. To do this as seamlessly as possible, efforts will need to be integrated into the existing CAC MDT network. This will require steadfast coordination between CACTX and CSTT and additional efforts by CACTX to work with all CACs and MDTs to incorporate the coordinated care approach to child sex trafficking cases.
FY19
21 CACTX FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
Conduct statewide assessment of current CAC MDT practices/protocols for response to identified child sex trafficking victims. FY19 – FY21 Provide regional training on the dynamics of child sex trafficking to CAC MDT professionals. Work with individual CAC MDTs to assess gaps in investigations and service‐provision for identified child sex trafficking victims. Once gap analysis is complete, identify needs to improve response to child sex trafficking victims. Outcome: Through surveys, the following outcomes will be measured:
75% of participants will report increased knowledge after training event. Impact:
Improvement of investigations and service delivery in child sex trafficking cases.
22 GARTH HOUSE FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
Organization: Garth House
Project Title: Capacity and Competency Building of the Multidisciplinary Team
Project Budget: $20,000
FY19 Budget: $101,197
By implementing the project, "Capacity and Competency Building of Multidisciplinary Team,'' Garth House intends to address three priority areas.
1. The first of these is to increase the number of interviews that can be conducted by Garth House through the purchase of additional recording equipment and creation of a second interview room on Garth House's Beaumont property. These steps are being taken in response to a rapid increase in interviews since March 2018 and the resulting space and time constraints placed on the center's staff and investigative agencies. 2. The second priority is to provide relevant training and tools for Garth House's multidisciplinary team. Trainings will relate to trauma‐informed care and implementation of a tool for identifying child victims of commercial sexual exploitation in the field and at other stages of an investigation, such as at the time of a Sexual Assault Nurse Exam (SANE) or forensic interview. Contract counselors serving rural counties will additionally benefit from training on Trauma‐Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF‐CBT) Applications with Commercially Sexually Exploited Children. 3. The third priority area establishes a facilitator for the center's newly developing commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) task force. The individual in this role will coordinate the establishment of a task force and the many administrative responsibilities that accompany project. Such activities may include preparing meeting agendas and presentations for initial onboarding of partners, drafting policies and memorandums of understanding for members, identifying key areas of need for each county and arranging appropriate training to meet those need, and cultivating relationships with other community service providers who may join the task force.
This project will adequately equip Garth House to meet the increased demand for forensic interviews, supply the center's multidisciplinary team members in all counties with trauma‐ informed response education and field tools, and will lay the foundation for a Southeast Texas coalition or task force to address CSEC cases.
Proposed Activities and Timeline
September: Task Force facilitator hired, initial task force partner meeting and related activities conducted.
October: Russel Strand with SIFT, LLC booked for future training, separate meeting of six district attorneys and the US Attorney, MOUs drafted.
23 GARTH HOUSE FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
November: iRecord equipment installed, Commercial Sexual Exploitation Identification Tool training held, planning committee meeting for MOU review.
December: MOUs adapted to meet identified needs or challenges, task force policies and procedures drafted.
January: Policies and procedures reviewed by planning committee.
February: Russel Strand of SHIFT, LLC trauma‐informed response training for MDT
March: First Task Force meeting: MOUs & policies and procedures presented. To continue every other month at minimum.
24 HARRIS COUNTY FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
Organization: Harris County Institute of Forensic Science (IFS)
Project Title: Multidisciplinary Approach in Investigating Child Abuse: Is There Opportunity for Early Recognition and Prevention
Project Budget: $119,129
FY18 Budget: $119,129
During the investigation of pediatric cases (clinical or medicolegal), a broad range of information pertaining to the child, the family or caregivers, the environment in which the injury or death occurred, as well as circumstances surrounding the injury or death is obtained. How this information is obtained may affect the quality of the information provided by the family and the type of information recorded (e.g. medical history, home environment, infant care). There is currently insufficient guidance available for first responders, and medicolegal authorities with jurisdictions outside of Harris County regarding appropriate techniques for gathering this information from caretakers and family. Additionally, there is little data available comparing child fatalities investigated by a medical examiner’s office with previous interactions within the medical (clinical) system. Identifying trends between these populations may provide opportunities for intervention and prevention before the death of a child occurs.
The HCIFS will undertake a multidisciplinary project to address child abuse through training and research focusing on child death investigators in Texas. The goal of this training is to provide instruction on proper child maltreatment investigations to practitioners in small and large jurisdictions to facilitate improved procedures.
The research component of this proposal will address two goals/questions: to identify possible areas for interventions that may prevent the death of a child from abuse and to identify potential missed opportunities for intervention in antemortem medical care.
Goals & Objectives
The goal of the proposed project is to enhance surveillance and recognition of child abuse related injuries and fatalities in Harris County, with applications across Texas. In order to achieve this, the following objectives will be addressed:
1. Maximize the effectiveness of the child fatality medicolegal (death) investigation process by providing training to first responders, clinicians, and Justices of the Peace across Texas.
2. Identify and evaluate environmental and/or social risk factors at the scene of death or in the decedent’s family social history.
3. Identify potential early targets for prevention and intervention (as well as missed opportunities for intervention) in the medical system through the evaluation of antemortem and postmortem records of child homicide cases.
Training activities and rationale are as follows:
25 HARRIS COUNTY FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
• The instructor‐led trainings will be held at the CAC in Houston during the Spring and Summer of 2019. At least four trainings, approximating 4 hours each in duration, of 15‐ 20 attendees will be conducted. The number of trainings will be increased as needed or requested by agencies. Attendees will include Houston Police Department Special Victims Division and other local law enforcement, forensic nurses, and regional medical examiner staff. Trainings will be video/audio recorded and edited by HCIFS staff for distribution to local law enforcement jurisdictions. Distribution of the recorded trainings will add to the sustainability of the local training program.
• A focused Justice of the Peace training will be held in the Spring (date pending) at the Texas Justice Court Training Center (TJCTC) in San Marcos, TX. At least 20 Justices of the Peace will attend the training. Trainers will confer with judges to develop online training format and strategy. The training will be video/audio recorded and edited by HCIFS staff for distribution to local medicolegal jurisdictions (ME/JP offices). Distribution of the recorded trainings will add to the sustainability of the ME/JP training program.
• Development of a web‐based training program will occur throughout the grant period. During the grant period, the current training modules will be updated using feedback from previous trainings. The requested audio/video equipment/software will be used by the HCIFS Forensic Imaging Division to transform the updated in‐person training program into a web‐based training. Release date for the web‐based training is estimated to be September of 2019. The Children’s Assessment Center will sustain the web‐based training program by hosting the program online, which will be available to all interested. Grant PI will notify the TJCTC of availability of training to JP’s statewide.
The research aspect of the proposed project will begin in October 2018. Below is the implementation timeline:
• October 2018–November 2018: Hire the FTE and have the FTE compile a list of decedents from the IID that meet the inclusion criteria. The FTE will extract the case numbers and birthdates for infants less than 1 year of age from the 569 cases that are currently in the IID. The case numbers will be used to obtain associated names from the HCIFS. The Anthropology FTE will setup remote access to the IID for the clinical consultant. The FTE will train the consultant for data entry into the IID.
• November 2018: The list compiled by the FTE will be sent to the consultant who will access all antemortem records associated with the cases from the Texas Children’s Hospital System and/or the Texas Children’s Health plan.
• November 2018‐May 2019: Beginning with the most recent infant fatalities, the consultant will collect all medical diagnostic and medical claims information from the antemortem records and health plan data. The consultant and FTE will modify the database to include the antemortem variables as well as any associated relevant information. The consultant will
26 HARRIS COUNTY FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
record the antemortem findings and associated findings in the database. The FTE will review all data entered into the IID and, depending on data volume, assist with data entry of the antemortem findings.
• During this time period, the FTE will complete the migration of IID data from the previous MS Access platform to the new REDCap platform. The FTE will extract and code scene and social history data collected by HCIFS and CPS investigators to include in the IID. These data will be coded to facilitate comparison to IID autopsy findings and will result in a searchable database (outcome) of social/medical history, and scene/environment characteristics extracted from HCIFS death investigator reports, CPS reports, and scene photographs.
• June 2019‐July 2019: After all antemortem medical data and scene/social history data have been recorded in the IID, the FTE will extract the data from the database and perform a statistical analysis in coordination with the HCIFS staff statistician. Autopsy findings will be compared with antemortem clinical data and scene/social history data to identify patterns of correlation between specific injuries and social/scene characteristics, as well as patterns of correlation between antemortem clinical history and post‐mortem findings.
• August 2019‐September 2019: The FTE and the consultant will disseminate the research findings to the forensic and medical communities through presentations and publication of manuscripts. The following conferences will be targeted for presentations: Ray E. Helfer Society Annual Meeting, the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition, and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences Annual Scientific Meeting. Additionally, at least two manuscripts will be prepared to submit to peer‐reviewed journals. A manuscript will be submitted to the journals of Child Abuse and Neglect or Pediatrics. A manuscript will also be submitted to the Journal of Forensic Sciences.
27 SAFE ALLIANCE FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
Organization: SAFE Alliance
Project Title: Engaging Communities to Increase Access to Justice for Child Victims with Disabilities
Project Budget: $118,099
FY19 Budget: $118,099
SAFE proposes to implement a 1‐year planning project – partnering with The ARC of Texas (TAOT) and The Arc of the Hill Country, focused on a small city/county: New Braunfels and Comal County, Texas. Stakeholders will explore their obstacles in reporting, investigating and prosecuting crimes against children with disabilities. Partners will work collaboratively with child protective staff, child advocates, first responders, investigators, prosecutors, judges, parents, educators, and others, to identify priority needs and creative solutions to help ensure more effective responses to cases involving child victims with disabilities.
At the end of the planning year, this assessment of needs via community engagement will result in a blueprint action plan, in collaboration with New Braunfels and Comal County stakeholders – and with input from participating stakeholders in Austin. The blueprint will include a set of priority solutions, for piloting in a subsequent year(s), focused on improving identification, assessment, investigation, and prosecution of cases of child victims with disabilities. This blueprint plan will fill an identified gap, and contribute to knowledge of creative ways to strengthen capacity and better leverage existing resources of more‐rural areas and communities.
Proposed Activities and Rationale/Outcomes and Impact
During this first year of this project, SAFE project staff and partnering organizations would provide the following outputs:
Statewide Organization (TAOT)/small city/rural county: 1. Engage New Braunfels/Comal County stakeholders and either establish baseline measures of the cases of victimization of children with disabilities that were 1) reported, 2) investigated, and, 3) prosecuted. We may establish that this information is not currently tracked. Timeframe: December‐ March. 2. Conduct engagement and assessment activities selected in Quarter 1 of this planning project in New Braunfels/Comal County. Activities may include listening sessions, roundtable discussions, critical conversations, focus groups, and one‐on‐one discussions with SAFE and TAOT staff and community stakeholders. We anticipate engaging community stakeholders and gathering assessment information with at least 4 police/sheriff’s investigators/detectives: 2 children’s advocacy center staff, including forensic interviewers; 4 criminal justice workers (e.g., prosecuting attorneys/child prosecutors, district attorneys); 4 members of TAOT (State Office and local chapter); 6 family members, parents and self‐advocates with disabilities; 4 DFPS/CPS investigators; 4 school educators; 4 medical staff (including a forensic nurse); and 3 victim service staff. (Total: 35 stakeholders) Timeframe: Feb‐July.
28 SAFE ALLIANCE FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
3. Hold engagement interviews/discussion groups with statewide organization stakeholders including, at minimum: DFPS/CPS (4 people), TMPA (2 people), CACTX (2 people), DRTX (2 people), Texas CASA (2 people), and HHSC’s Office of Disability Prevention for Children (1 person) (Total: 13 stakeholders). Timeframe: Feb‐July. 4. Analyze data and create a detailed report including a blueprint action plan based on results of engagement and assessment; detailed information on inputs, feedback, pushback/resistance from participating community stakeholders; and identification of priority areas of need that can be addressed in 2020/2021. This report and blueprint for action will be created in collaboration with TAOT and community stakeholders. We will seek broader community input/feedback with Austin stakeholders. Timeframe: Aug‐Oct. 5. Analyze information from statewide organizations committed to the safety of children. Include results in the detailed report outlined above. Timeframe: July‐ Sept. 6. Draft final report, recommendations and blueprint. Timeframe: Oct‐Nov. 7. Further disseminate final report and next‐steps recommendations based on the report to: SAFE’s Senior Leadership staff; TAOT’s leadership, including public policy staff; statewide and local stakeholders engaged in the project; other state, victim service, disability and civil rights and protection organizations; and other organizations with an interest in victim services and criminal justice issues, and public policy/legislation, and with an interest and commitments to improving Texas’s response to child victims with disabilities. Timeframe: November, subsequent to submitting the report to the CJA Task Force.
This project’s major outcomes include a comprehensive report based on the identified priority areas of need selected by community stakeholders. This report will focus on the participants, methods, implementation and results of the community engagement and needs assessment with New Braunfels and Comal County, in addressing reporting, investigation, prosecution and trauma‐informed responses to children with disabilities who have been abused/neglected. As mentioned above, this report will include strengths, barriers, gaps, and creative solutions to one community’s approach to child abuse victims with disabilities. It will provide a blueprint for a follow‐up project to implement those changes in New Braunfels/Comal County, and a potential prototype for other communities. The abovementioned report will also include results of roundtable discussions, brainstorming sessions, questions, and potential solutions to the under‐prosecution of child abuse cases involving children with disabilities, provided by other SAFE staff and interested and invested leaders of statewide groups that support local chapters involved in addressing abuse/neglect against all children.
This project will develop and share knowledge of community gaps preventing the reporting, investigation and prosecution of abuse cases against children with disabilities in two ways: 1) through stakeholder engagement, feedback and brainstorming in a small town and largely rural county; and, 2) via state agency and statewide nonprofit agencies’ input. SAFE will submit a blueprint plan of action to address priority areas selected by the participating community which have the greater likelihood to effect changes in New Braunfels/Comal County. Finally, the action plan could be a model for other communities, and the report could inform how local chapters and offices of DFPS/CPS, CACTX, Texas CASA, DRTX, and law enforcement agencies approach cases of abuse against children with disabilities.
29 SHAKEN BABY ALLIANCE FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
Organization: Shaken Baby Alliance (SBA)
Project Title: The Forensic Investigation in Child Physical Abuse, Child Fatality, & Child Neglect Cases – Making a Difference Together
Project Budget: $25,891
FY19 Budget: $19,996
Shaken Baby Alliance will hold two regional multidisciplinary stakeholder trainings. The first will be a two‐day training in Maverick County and the second will be a one‐day training in Montague County.
These trainings will enhance regional capacity by providing training for a coordinated response to allegations of child abuse/neglect and child death cases by the disciplines involved with these cases. Attendees will leave with a strong foundation of the medical aspects of child abuse including mechanism of injury, timing of injuries, and the ability to compare the history with the injury. Participants will receive instruction on how to utilize the 12 Elements of the Successful Forensic Investigation©. Through a block of instruction entitled Tools You Can Use: Resources for the MDT, these rural communities will be able to better leverage existing resources to develop strong legal cases. Community collaboration will be built by the community stakeholders planning the training modules, attending training, and hosting a team building opportunity during or near the training date.
Proposed Activities and Rationale
This training course on the medical, investigative, and legal aspects of child abuse and neglect will be delivered to a minimum of 100 child welfare professionals collectively in rural Maverick County and Montague counties, respectively. It will be targeted to 15 disciplines in over 21 adjacent counties and will be taught by a multi‐disciplinary group of subject matter experts who are board certified or otherwise credentialed and practicing in their respective fields.
Months 1‐2 1. Develop collaborations with training sites/key stakeholders. 2. Sign contracts or LOAs for facility and faculty. Months 3‐4 1. Apply for CEUs/TCOLE/CLE/CME (based on local decision). 2. Develop website/registration/marketing/training materials. Months 5‐6 1. Produce training #1/compile evaluation data/stats/report. Months 7‐8 1. Produce training #2/compile evaluation data/stats/report. Months 9‐10 1. Provide technical assistance when requested. Months 11&12 1. Provide technical assistance when requested. 2. Report published to CJA, website, BOD, stakeholders.
30 TLSC FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
Organization: Texas Legal Service Center (TLSC)
Project Title: Family Helpline
Project Budget: $100,000
FY19 Budget: $374,842
The Family Helpline provides callers with free, quality, clear, legal information and education regarding Texas CPS legal issues. All services at the Family Helpline are provided by attorneys with significant experience in CPS cases. Providing callers with quality and correct legal information will allow individuals navigating the child welfare system to make more informed and thoughtful decisions regarding a child welfare legal matter. When a person can make a decision based on accurate legal information and not just fear or misinformation, families will be better equipped to make informed decisions regarding the children involved.
Texas law currently only provides free court appointed counsel to parents involved in CPS cases when the parent is indigent AND CPS has legally removed a child from the parent and/or CPS has filed a legal petition for termination of the parent’s rights to the child. Parents involved in CPS intervention through the investigations and family based safety services (FBSS) phases are not entitled to any type of court‐appointed representation. CPS investigations and FBSS phases of CPS involvement frequently require that families make decisions regarding their children that can have long‐lasting implications. Families that cannot afford an attorney to represent them through the investigative or FBSS cases, have been left to make the most serious decisions in their family life with little to no information. Additionally, families with closed CPS cases are often left in a state of confusion with unclear direction regarding how to move forward. The Helpline’s work over the past 16 months has also shown that many families don’t understand or know how to proceed when a child in their family is facing a potential child safety issue.
Proposed Activities and Rationale
Proposed Activities:
1) Provide direct legal services by providing legal information and education to individuals with child welfare legal questions:
The bulk of the work conducted by Family Helpline staff involves providing a direct legal service to callers by providing legal information to callers throughout the state over the phone. Family Helpline attorneys routinely spend at least 30 minutes or more with callers discussing various child welfare issues. Providing legal information to callers provides callers with accurate and reliable information to empower callers to make informed decisions regarding their child welfare legal matters.
The Family Helpline expects to switch to new telephone and case management software in the upcoming months, which will allow the Helpline to further gather specific data points such as number of calls not answered with no message left. The new software will
31 TLSC FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
allow the Family Helpline to evaluate and analyze call volume data in further depth than is currently available.
2) Evaluate and analyze data gathered from Family Helpline calls and share information with interested stakeholders:
Multiple data points are gathered from each call to the Family Helpline. Each caller is asked to answer a series of optional questions regarding their situation. The Family Helpline currently tracks and documents the following data points:
Caller’s zip code and county of residence, county of legal issue, number of children involved, age(s) of child(ren) involved, caller’s relationship to the child(ren), child(ren)’s placement, stage of CPS case, caller’s age, caller’s citizenship and internet access, if caller is disabled or a veteran, if domestic violence is involved, caller’s monthly income, where caller was referred from, issues discussed, and any referrals given to caller.
Data gathered is evaluated quarterly and is shared with funders and can be shared with other interested stakeholders in the child welfare community. The gathered data is a wealth of information that can provide both statewide and local information regarding trends and issues families may be facing through the state. This data has the potential to provide evidence to support long‐term policy changes and systemic reforms.
CPS has provided the Family Helpline with a liaison within state office to share information regarding particularly concerning individual cases. The Family Helpline has utilized this liaison since its inception. The Helpline has created an internal process and protocol for how to best utilize this resource. This process provides a direct channel to notify CPS of particularly concerning issues in the field. Furthermore, this information provides additional data points regarding potentially systemic issues in various local communities.
Additionally, the Helpline regularly communicates and collaborates with the Children’s Commission of the Supreme Court of Texas who also funds the program. Through communication regarding issues spotted on the Helpline, the parent resource group subcommittee of the Children’s Commission is currently working on submitting a proposal to create a law school clinic aimed at assisting families seeking to modify existing court orders when CPS is involved with the family in an investigation or FBSS stage. The Helpline will continue to share information and data gathered on the Helpline with all funders and stakeholders to assist in creating systemic change to improve outcomes for children involved in the CPS system.
3) Conduct regional travel for outreach and educational purposes:
Although statute, case law, and CPS policies are relevant and applicable throughout the state, local court communities often have local practices and terminology that may vary in each region. Due to the statewide nature of the Helpline services, it is important that
32 TLSC FY19 PROJECT SUMMARY
Helpline staff be informed of local practices so that we may provide the most accurate information to our callers. Making in person visits to local court communities provides an up close look for Helpline staff to learn about local practices. Furthermore, in person visits to local courts are a valuable opportunity for outreach to inform local communities about our service and provide a personal face for the Family Helpline.
4) Expand mailing and distribution of outreach materials throughout the state and increase marketing efforts:
With continued or expanded staffing, the Family Helpline will be able to sustain an increase in call volume. Continued distribution of outreach throughout the state is necessary to ensure that families are aware of our service. The Family Helpline will communicate with regional child advocacy centers, family service providers, drug treatment providers, mental health providers, and other organizations that assist families about the Family Helpline and provide these organizations with outreach materials to share with their local community.
Additionally, TLSC intends to utilize the services of a marketing company to assist in more robustly marketing our services throughout the state. These marketing efforts will continue into fiscal year 19 and will assist in further sharing information about the Family Helpline through Texas.
5) Continue to provide content for Texas Law Help with information regarding CPS matters:
TLSC also manages the Texas Law Help website. Texaslawhelp.org is a beneficial and influential website that provides individuals with legal information and assistance in pro se legal matters. The Texas Law Help website currently contains a section with information regarding CPS matters. Family Helpline staff routinely uses the Texas Law Help site as an additional resource for callers to access. The Texas Law Help website can be accessed twenty‐four hours a day and is a complementary resource to Family Helpline services. Family Helpline staff will assist Texas Law Help staff in ensuring that information regarding CPS on Texas Law Help is up to date and accurate. Helpline staff will also provide additional content throughout the year regarding CPS matters on Texas Law Help.
33 CJA Budget Fiscal Year: October 1, 2018 - September 30, 2019 7/9/2019
GY 18 Unexpended Funds: $ 1,348,502.80
Income GY 18 Remaining Funds: $ 584,415.00 FINAL GY 19 Grant Income: $ 1,441,160.00 Program Income: $ -
Total Grant Income $ 2,025,575.00 Total Budgeted $ 1,483,821.35 Funds Remaining for New Projects $ 541,753.65
Expenses Budget Expenses to Date Balance Grantees
Harris County $ 119,129.00 $ 60,456.11 $ 58,672.89
CACTX Strengthening Capacity $ 250,000.00 $ 161,476.10 $ 88,523.90 CACTX CST & LE $ 249,755.00 $ 126,773.71 $ 122,981.29
Shaken Baby Alliance $ 19,996.00 $ 948.17 $ 19,047.83 Texas Legal Service Center $ 100,000.00 $ 37,129.38 $ 62,870.62 Garth House $ 20,000.00 $ 12,974.77 $ 7,025.23
DSHS $ 121,961.11 $ - $ 121,961.11
SAFE Alliance $ 118,099.00 $ 11,101.96 $ 106,997.04
TMPA No Cost Ext $ 40,946.74 $ 17,720.99 $ 23,225.75
$ - $ -
$ - $ -
Small Training Grants $ - $ - $ -
Scholarships $ 85,000.00 $ 3,359.51 $ 81,640.49
CJA Task Force $ 30,000.00 $ 24,529.73 $ 5,470.27 Overhead
Salaries $ 182,735.00 $ 131,044.59 $ 51,690.41
Fringe $ 54,820.50 $ 43,904.28 $ 10,916.22
Travel $ 15,069.00 $ 3,860.32 $ 11,208.68
Rent $ 37,200.00 $ 26,233.90 $ 10,966.10
Equipment $ - $ - $ -
Contractual (Audit) $ 6,000.00 $ 3,955.00 $ 2,045.00
Supplies (Office Supplies, Shipping, Printing, etc) $ 8,500.00 $ 405.34 $ 8,094.66 Other Admin (IT, Professional fees and services, Insurance, Phone, etc) $ 24,610.00 $ 11,198.34 $ 13,411.66
$ 1,483,821.35 $ 677,072.20 $ 806,749.15
Summary34 CJA Task Force – Grants Committee Report
Grants Committee: – Isidro Alaniz, Tym Belseth, Kriste Burnett, Ed Drain, Jon Evans, Denise Hyde, Aurora Martinez Jones, Gil‐Rey Madrid, Connie Ricketts, Dustin Rynders, Beth Senger, Stephanie Stephens
Background: • April 15th ‐ Staff posted program instructions to CJA website • June 10th ‐ Applications were due • June 12th – Staff completed preliminary screening for completeness and eligibility • June 12th – June 26th – Grants Committee reviewed applications • June 26th – Grants Committee submitted completed grant proposal review forms to CJA staff • June 27th ‐ Grants Committee met by conference call to discuss proposals
Review and Selection Process
1. CJA Priorities: strengthen both regional and statewide capacity to investigate, assess, and prosecute crimes against children; emergency preparedness: keep children safe during and after a natural disaster; improve the response to internet crimes against children– Competitive ‐ $1,000,000.
2. The Task Force received 13 applications totaling $1,795,079
3. CJA staff conducted an initial screening to determine whether: a. The application is complete b. The applicant is an eligible entity and the proposed project is eligible for CJA funding c. The application is responsive to the RFA
4. Applications that met the initial screening criteria were fully evaluated and scored by CJA staff.
5. Staff forwarded all 13 applications to the Grants Committee.
6. The Grants Committee completed review forms for each grant proposal. A blank template of the proposal review form is included as an attachment to this report. Committee members abstained from reviewing proposals if they had a conflict of interest with an organization applying for a grant. The review forms yielded scores for each proposal between 1‐100. Prior to the Grants Committee meeting, staff averaged the scores for all proposals.
7. The Committee recommendations are included as an attachment to this report. The Committee wanted additional clarification about some of the projects that were overall high scorers before giving full recommendation.
351 Average Committee Organization Project Title Focus Area Project Type Score Recommendation
Requested Approved Improving the Detection of Pediatric Skeletal Injuries through the Development Medical assessment, training of Best Practices and for health professionals and Harris County Practitioner Training clinicians One‐year $137,491 $137,491 90 Approved for Funding Strengthening Safety Nets: Natural disasters, policies, Creating Community protocols and training for first Resilience Through responders and disaster relief TNOYS Collaboration organizations One‐year $140,000 $140,000 89 Approved for Funding Local/regional training to El Paso Center for Trauma and encourage cross‐system Children Triumph…Border Youth collaboration on criminal and Conference civil child abuse cases One‐Year $25,000 $25,000 88 Approved for Funding Improving Access to Child Maltreatment Professionals: A Project to Strengthen Capacity and Medical assessment of child UT Health Science Better Leverage Existing abuse, training for health Center Houston Resoures in Houston professionals Two‐year $231,559 $231,559 88 Approved for Funding Texas Legal Improving legal capacity in Service Center Family Helpline CPS cases Two‐year $270,301 $270,301 87 Approved for Funding
36 Approved for Funding ‐ proposed grant project budget is split with OVC. If Garth House Garth House Stabilizing and doesn't receive this Strengthening the funding, there is a Multidisciplinary Team Child sex trafficking, scaled down Response to Child Sex multidisciplinary team alternative plan with Trafficking coordination One‐year $101,641 $101,641 84 just CJA funds Bexar County Juvenile Local CFRT Coordinator Child Fatality Review Teams, Probation Pilot Project pilot project Two‐year $146,628 $146,628 83 Approved for Funding
Pilot Project to Enhance the Travis County Safety of Children Placed at Guardians ad litems, safety in CASA Shelters and RTCs RTCs, training and tools One‐year $110,748 $110,748 83 Approved for Funding Approved for funding at a reduced amount. Some of the items requested in the Local/regional training to budget can't be paid Northeast Texas Texarkana Children's support multidisciplinary for with federal grant CASA Advocacy Center collaboration One‐year $9,175 $7,000 82 funds
Tentative approval for one year‐ terms of The Forensic Investigation proposal need to be in Child Physical Abuse, discussed and budget Child Fatality & Child Local/regional training to will need to be Shaken Baby Neglect Cases ‐ Making a support multidisciplinary reduced to remove Alliance Difference Together collaboration Two‐year $49,965 $22,500 82 unallowable costs
37 Approved for funding ‐ DFPS clarified some Texas Adaptive Coaching CPS Investigations, confusing aspects of Texas DFPS Project manager/supervisor training Two‐year $187,865 $187,865 80 the proposal
Shaken Baby Case Consultation Services Alliance Evaluation Program Two‐year $334,706 0 68 Rejected CASA of Collin County Child Advocacy Program One‐year $50,000 0 57 Rejected
$1,795,079 $1,380,733
38 Children’s Justice Act FY2020 Grants Committee Application Scoring Form – April 15, 2019 RFA Applicant Agency: Project Name: Amount Requested: Reviewer Name:
Scoring Directions: Score each evaluation section using the criteria provided. Record the score for each section and then calculate Total Score at the bottom. Please provide comments that support your score for each section, be specific. If you have questions about aspects of an application, you may include this in the “Comments” section.
Points Guidance 100% of the total Couldn’t imagine a better response score 80‐99% of the Very good to excellent, insightful response total score (4 out 5, 12‐14 out 15, 24‐29 out of 30, 8‐9 out of 10) 60‐79% of the Adequate response, in some cases more than total score (3 out adequate but no particularly special insights. Be of 5, 9‐11 out of sure to note the difference between a well written 15, 18‐24 out of proposal but uninspiring project and a poorly 30, 6‐7 out of 10) written proposal but a project with potential. 40‐ 59% of the Inadequate response, confusing or unresponsive to total score (2 out some extent or missing information. Some parts of of 5, 6‐8 out of 15, the response might be okay, but it mostly misses 12‐17 out of 30, 4‐ the mark. 5 out of 10) 1‐39% of the total Totally inadequate response. score (1 out of 5, 1‐ 5 out of 15, 1‐11 out of 30, 1‐3 out of 10) 0 No response given
Project Narrative ‐ 60 Possible Points
(a) Project Summary/Abstract – Summary of the purpose and anticipated outcomes of the project that could be shared separately from the application. (5 points)
Comments:
39
Score: (____/5)
(b) Target Population & Statement of Need – Description of the opportunity, challenge or unmet need that the project addresses. The section should include relevant, current research and data to support statements. Current and anticipated partners on the projects should be discussed as well as their roles and responsibilities. If relevant, national and/or local policies the project aims to address should be described. (15 points)
Comments:
Score: (____/15)
(c) Proposed Activities and Rationale – Description of the proposed project in detail including goals, outcomes, and a schedule describing the major activities to be carried out and the rationale for choosing the selected activities. The proposed activities should be easily tied to the project goals and outcomes. (30 points)
Comments:
Score: (____/30)
(d) Organization Information – Description of why this organization is ideally qualified to lead proposed scope of work. Section should include past successes with similar projects and how the organization would apply lessons learned from past work to the proposed project. (10 points)
Comments:
Score: (____/10)
Overall Comments:
Evaluation ‐ 15 Possible Points
(a) This section should define what success will look like for this project and how that success can be measured. (15 points) What is expected to change as a result of this project? How will the proposed activities lead to this change?
40 What baseline information do you have now and what new information will be collected and reported to demonstrate progress toward and achievement of these outcomes and activities (refer to statement of need and proposed activities) What methods will be used to gather data? How will evaluation results be used?
Comments:
Score: (____/15)
Sustainable Outcomes ‐ 10 Possible Points
(a) Description of the sustainability plan as well as what outcomes will be sustained beyond the grant period. (10 points)
Comments:
Score: (____/10)
Project Budget ‐ 15 Possible Points
(a) Project costs are directly related to the objectives and activities of the project. The budget narrative clearly explains the assumptions and allocation of resources among objectives, partners and types of activities. Cost categories and the basis of cost calculations and allocations are adequately explained. The budget workbook aligns with the budget narrative and all costs included in the workbook should be adequately explained in the budget narrative. Comments:
Score: (____/15)
** Section to be completed by CJA Staff** ‐ Points will be deducted from scores ONLY if a grantee is deemed to be a risk. Pre Award Questionnaire (High Risk = ‐5 points; Medium Risk = ‐1 points; Low Risk = 0 points)
(a) The Pre Award Questionnaire will be used to conduct a grantee risk assessment. The results of the risk assessment will result in the addition/subtraction of points to the application score.
41 PROPOSAL SUMMARY Bexar County Juvenile Probation Request Amt: $146,628 (Two Years: Total Project Budget - $146,628)
Applicant Contact Bexar County Juvenile Probation Jeannine Von Shultz – Deputy Chief PO 301 East Mitchell Street Project Title: Local CFRT Coordinator Pilot San Antonio, TX 78210
Organizational Background: Bexar County Juvenile Probation has a long standing history of public/private collaboration with the Governor’s Office, the Criminal Justice Division, Alamo Area Coalition Against Trafficking, Bexar County Courts, local law enforcement agencies, Department of Family and Protective Services, ChildSafe, Roy Maas Youth Alternatives, Rape Crisis Center, Ransomed Life, UT Health, Center for Health Care Services and numerous other agencies for the sole purpose of providing the most appropriate, effective, and successful services and programs for the children under our supervision. The Department has been the recipient of Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and continues to demonstrate its capacity of effectively participate and manage numerous grants.
Organizational Budget: $49,249,103
Prior Grants: Last Grant Amount: $20,000 Last Grant Date: June 1, 2019 – September 30, 2019
Classifications: Support Type: Salary & Benefits, Travel Geographic Area Served: Bexar County, Central & South Texas
Project Description: Bexar County Juvenile Probation, on behalf of the Bexar County Child Fatality Review Team, is requesting funding to support the continuation of the CFRT Coordinator position. Over the additional 24 month period, the Coordinator will focus on strengthening the child death prevention efforts of the Bexar County CFRT by providing the local CFRT with in-depth, real-time data regarding child death trends in Bexar County. In addition, in order to expand the geographic impact of the pilot project, the Coordinator will also reach out to rural CFRTs within central and south Texas to provide support and technical assistance, as well as provide support to communities in the surrounding area who have yet to develop a CFRT. BCJP Department and the Bexar CFRT will evaluate output and outcome measures throughout the term of the grant and will modify CFRT Coordinator responsibilities if necessary to fortify project implementation. With this additional funding, data collection and analysis strategies will be formalized that will support community efforts to reduce the number of preventable child deaths thus strengthening capacity and better leveraging the existing child injury and death prevention resources within the central and south Texas community.
42 PROPOSAL SUMMARY CASA of Collin County Request Amt: $50,000 (One Year: Total Project Budget $1,201,955)
Applicant Contact CASA of Collin County Jasmine Greeson, Director of Development 101 East Davis Street Project Title: Child Advocacy Program McKinney, TX 75069
Organizational Background: For 27 years, CASA of Collin County has promoted and protected the best interests of children who have been severely abused or neglected, removed from their homes, and placed into the custody of the state. CASA has filled this role by providing well-trained volunteers who advocate in court for these abused and neglected children. Its vision is that all children reside in a safe, permanent, and loving home, free from abuse and neglect. To achieve this vision, CASA of Collin County is committed to providing well-trained volunteer advocates (CASAs) for 100% of Collin County foster children.
Organizational Budget: $1,621,212
Prior Grants: NA
Classifications: Support Type: Salary, Training Geographic Area Served: Collin County
Project Description: CASA of Collin County requests $50,000 for its Child Advocacy Program, which trains and supports volunteer advocates. To continue serving 100% of Collin County cases, the organization must recruit and train 95 new volunteers each year as well as maintain a volunteer pool of at least 250 advocates. The intensive training program required for each new volunteer advocate, is a 30 hour class held over a 7 day period. This training is a comprehensive program covering a variety of topics including the dynamics of abuse and neglect, the court process, the role of an advocate as guardian ad litem, the impact of substance abuse, domestic violence and mental illness on the family, and objectivity and cultural sensitivity training. The training is led by CASA staff, professionals from CPS, judges and current volunteer advocates. These volunteer trainings are held quarterly at the CASA office and off-site as needed. CASA of Collin County’s trainings also dive into case studies giving new advocates a better understanding of what could happen in different case scenarios.
The organization has three goals to help ensure that it meets its objective of providing volunteer advocates to 100% of the children in foster case in Collin County. Since CPS determines the number of children in care, that number is beyond CASA’s control, but the organization is committed to providing service for every child. The first goal is to maintain a volunteer pool of at least 250 advocates, so that it can continue to serve 100% of children in foster case from Collin County. The second goal is to recruit, screen and train at least 95 new volunteers in 2019. The third goal is that District Court Judges will agree with CASA’s final recommendations regarding permanent placement in a safe, loving and permanent forever home 90% of the time.
43 PROPOSAL SUMMARY DFPS – Child Protective Investigations Request Amt: $187,865 (Two Years: Total Project Budget - $187,865)
Applicant Contact DFPS – Child Protective Gwen Gray, Director of Policy and Practice for Investigations Investigations and Alternative Response 501 West 51st Street Project Title: Texas Adaptive Coaching Program Austin, TX 78751
Organizational Background: Child Protections Investigations (CPI) has been undergoing transformation through continued implementation of the Child Protective Services (CPS)/CPI Practice Model (Practice Model). This is a way to define the values, principals, relationships, and techniques CPI caseworkers and managers use as they work with children and families in a consistent, sustainable way through the use of Engaging, Assessing, Teaming, Planning, Intervening, and Evaluating. The goal of the Practice Model is to shift how CPS works with children and families and focus on improving relationships in order to ensure sustainable safety. The Practice Model also enhances DFPS’ Mission, Vision and Values. The State Office Coaching Team has experience in implementing large-scale projects and has most recently been responsible for the statewide implementation of Alternative Response (a new stage of service in the Investigations division in Texas) in CPI, which will complete this implementation in July 2019. This team is well versed in training and creating curriculum based on the needs of staff. They have successfully held an annual Alternative Response Leadership Conference in order to provide continuing education and support to Alternative Response Leadership.
Organizational Budget: $2,000,000,000+
Prior Grants: Last Grant Amount: $72,000 Last Grant Date: October 1, 2016 – September 30, 2017
Classifications: Support Type: Travel, Operating, Contractual Geographic Area Served: Texas
Project Description: The goal of the Texas Adaptive Coaching Program is to support leaders in a way that has never been attempted within CPI. Adaptive Coaching has been useful in Alternative Response and Leadership has expressed interest in using it for all of CPS Investigations, particularly for managers and supervisors. Adaptive Coaching allows an individual the opportunity to reflect on their abilities as a leader and focus on specific areas of their work life, while identifying goals that will increase their effectiveness. It also allows groups of leaders to meet together and work on the adoption of new policies, procedures, and explore any issues or barriers. By effecting change in its leaders, the practice in CPI can also begin to change a division so that is more responsive to the needs of its staff and as a result, is more responsive to children and families that CPI interacts with and serves in Texas. Adaptive Coaching also promotes a culture of learning that improves child safety outcomes by purposefully challenging leaders to enhance their skills in creating effective partnerships through engagement, respect, and transparency. Through this coaching relationship and use of solution focused practice, the coaches can increase their critical thinking skills, develop confidence in their abilities, and strengthen motivation to do their best work.
44 PROPOSAL SUMMARY El Paso Center for Children Request Amt: $25,000 (One Year: Total Project Budget $78,700)
Applicant Contact CASA of Collin County Beth Senger, CEO 101 East Davis Street Project Title: Trauma and Triumph…Border Youth McKinney, TX 75069 Conference
Organizational Background: The El Paso Center for Children has been serving youth and families through prevention and intervention services for 100 years. The agency has a training center and has accommodated numerous small conferences and trainings for the community, becoming known as a center for collaborative learning opportunities. The agency initiated and secured funding for the first regional collaborative training in 2017 to bring Dr. Ken Ginsburg of Reaching Teens to the community. The following year, it was agreed that partnering agency, El Paso Child Guidance Center, would continue the leadership on that initiative. They hosted (with continued financial investment from the Center for Children) a second conference and a conversation among key stakeholders that resulted in building a formal learning community centered on trauma and resilience practices.
Perhaps the strongest argument that the agency is appropriate for hosting this event is that it created the vision of bringing world‐class educational opportunities to a community unable to afford sending staff to conferences in other parts of Texas, much less the country. It took considerable risk initiating that process in 2017 and is taking even more risk this year with a large‐scale conference vision for which zero dollars had been secured by government funding sources. This scaled‐up vision was only feasible because of the security of a modest legacy gift left by a donor unknown to the organization – a gift it is clear needs to be protected as much as possible. However, the Board of Directors supported the risk of this expenditure, while setting a clear expectation that the CEO seek as much financial support as possible through grants, vendors, and registrations.
Organizational Budget: $4,213,597
Prior Grants: NA
Classifications: Support Type: Venue & Speaker costs Geographic Area Served: El Paso
Project Description: The Trauma and Triumph…Border Youth Conference is a multidisciplinary learning opportunity being hosted in El Paso, Texas on August 7‐8, 2019. The context of the community is core to the purpose of this project. El Paso, on the border of Mexico, is the busiest land‐bound port in the United States and is one of the poorest large‐population counties in the country. Though recently thrust into the national spotlight regarding immigration issues, the community has also been accustomed to international attention due to drug cartel wars and the mass graves of tortured and murdered young women in its sister city, Juarez, Mexico. Though the community acknowledges its systems‐level trauma, the city also reflects the resilience of its 85% Latino culture ‐‐ the native and immigrant (legal or not, 1st and 2nd generation) residents of which the population is comprised. This conference will bring together multiple disciplines (attorneys, educators, CPS and JPD workers/investigators, law enforcement, and therapists/social workers) to become versed on the issues that can affect families and lead to CPS and/or JPD system involvement. International, national, and local experts will discuss topics relevant to the investigation of child abuse including (to name a few) the impact of poverty on families, immigration challenges, sex trafficking of minors, systems level challenges, and how systems can work more effectively, enhance cross‐ system collaboration, investigative techniques in trafficking cases, and internet crimes against children.
45 PROPOSAL SUMMARY Garth House Request Amt: $101,641 (One Year: Total Project Budget - $242,783)
Applicant Contact Garth House, Mickey Mehaffy Marion Tanner, Executive Director Children’s Advocacy Program 1895 McFaddin Ave Project Title: Stabilizing and Strengthening the Beaumont, TX 77701 Multidisciplinary Team Response to Child Sex Trafficking
Organizational Background: As facilitator of the multidisciplinary team (MDT) for six counties and actively engaged in the community, Garth House is in the natural position to leverage its skill and relationships to promote collaborative and trauma-informed responses and encourage the establishment of a continuum of care for victims. There is overwhelming support from members of the MDT for this project. From district attorneys, to police chiefs and sexual assault nurse examiners, these Garth House-initiated activities have been endorsed by the community. Garth House also enjoys the support of the Texas Office of the Governor (OOG) and Children’s Advocacy Center’s of Texas (CACTX). Both agree that local children’s advocacy centers have the skills and relationships to act as care coordinators and recognize Garth House as the designated care coordination agency for the area.
Organizational Budget: $1,906,034
Prior Grants: Last Grant Amount: $20,000 Last Grant Date: October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019
Classifications: Support Type: Salary & Benefits, Travel, Training/Contractual Geographic Area Served: Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Newton, Orange and Tyler Counties
Project Description: Over the course of 2018, awareness of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) has spread rapidly throughout Southeast Texas. In turn, the need for proportional action from agencies and organizations has become apparent. The project, “Stabilizing and Strengthening the Multidisciplinary Team Response to Child Sex Trafficking,” will build a coordinated investigative, prosecutorial, and service provision response to CSEC in Southeast Texas through a trauma-informed and victim-centered approach. Through combined funding, the project will employ four specialized, full-time staff members to form Garth House’s Child Sex Trafficking (CST) Program: a CST Program Director, Care Coordinator, CST Family Advocate, and CST Program Assistant. Full staffing of this program will allow Garth House to meet the rapidly growing need for on-call “care coordination” services which synthesize information and streamline communication between agencies when a trafficking victim is recovered and/or identified by multidisciplinary team (MDT) members and community service providers. The project will also equip Garth House staff and partners with the knowledge and tools to respond to trafficking cases through trainings provided in-house or by outside experts in the field. Education and collaboration will support successful investigative outcomes as well as minimize re- victimization of children and protective family members as they go through the investigation, assessment, intervention, and prosecution processes.
46 PROPOSAL SUMMARY Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences Request Amt: $137,491 (One Year: Total Project Budget - $137,491)
Applicant Contact Harris County Institute of Dr. Jason Wiersema Forensic Sciences 1861 Old Spanish Trail Project Title: Improving the detection of pediatric Houston, TX 77054 skeletal injuries
Organizational Background: The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences (HCIFS) is the medicolegal authority in Harris County Texas and is responsible for investigating all deaths under its jurisdiction. HCIFS serves Harris County, a population of four million, and several surrounding counties. It is one of the 47- member institutions of the Texas Medical Center (TMC). HCIFS is organized into two services: the Medical Examiner and the Crime Laboratory. The mission of the Medical Examiner Service is to determine the cause and manner of death, to document and preserve evidence relating to the decedent in accordance with Article 49.25 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedures, and to provide unbiased expert witness testimony in a court of law. The Medical Examiner Service consists of Forensic Pathology, Investigations, Morgue, Forensic Imaging, and Forensic Anthropology Divisions. The Medical Examiner Service is accredited by the National Association of Medical Examiner’s, the Texas Medical Association Continuing Medical Education Program, and offers a pathology fellowship accredited by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education.
Organizational Budget: $30,836,000
Prior Grants: Last Grant Amount: $119,129 Last Grant Date: October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019
Classifications: Support Type: Salary & Benefits, Equipment, Operating, Contractual Geographic Area Served: Harris County
Project Description: Consistently and accurately detecting skeletal injuries in the pediatric population remains an impediment to the reliable diagnosis of child abuse. Conventional radiography is typically the imaging modality of choice for clinical and forensic practitioners investigating skeletal injuries because the equipment is readily available in most offices, it exposes the infant/child to lower radiation doses than other modalities, and is a non-invasive method for identifying skeletal injury during autopsy. However, detecting skeletal injuries using radiography can be difficult depending on the injury location, type, and stage of healing. Practitioners recognize that conventional radiography lacks sensitivity relative to more advanced imaging modalities, such as computed tomography (CT), but discipline-specific limiting factors have prevented a comprehensive investigation into the sensitivity of the various modalities used to identify skeletal injuries and the positive predictive value of their findings. For example, clinical practitioners are unable to confirm their findings grossly and forensic practitioners often lack access to advanced imaging modalities.
The goal of the proposed project is to increase both the sensitivity and specificity of skeletal injury detection in the pediatric population (living and deceased) by addressing the following objectives: 1) evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of three modalities (conventional radiography, CT, gross visual examination) used to detect rib and extremity fractures in a pediatric autopsy sample, 2) identify factors that decrease the effectiveness of the evaluated modalities for detecting skeletal injuries, 3) evaluate the incidence of skeletal injuries considered highly specific for physical abuse in a pediatric autopsy population, and 4) develop best practices for detecting skeletal injuries in the pediatric population (deceased and living) and provide training to clinicians, radiologists, forensic pathologists, and forensic anthropologists.
47 PROPOSAL SUMMARY Northeast Texas CASA Request Amt: $9,175 (One Year: Total Project Budget - $9,175)
Applicant Contact Northeast Texas CASA Brandy Eldridge, Executive Director 1201 Main Street Project Title: Texarkana Children’s Advocacy Center Texarkana, TX 75501
Organizational Background: Texarkana Children’s Advocacy Center is a program of Northeast Texas CASA which has been in existence for 29 years. The TCAC exists to provide a safe place for victims and their families to receive comprehensive services from dedicated professional interviewers, nurses, counselors and advocates in a child-friendly atmosphere through a coordinated team approach. The TCAC is the first point of contact when law enforcement or CPS receives a case of sexual or physical abuse or other form of child maltreatment.
Organizational Budget: $1,353,050
Prior Grants: NA
Classifications: Support Type: Speaker Fees & Conference Supplies Geographic Area Served: Northeast Texas/Texarkana
Project Description: The proposed project is to host a two-day child abuse conference that is offered to all investigative agencies in rural Bowie, Cass and Morris counties in Texas. The overall goal of the conference is to provide an opportunity for all of the MDT to receive education they otherwise would not receive due to limited budgets, resources and staffing issues. Through this conference our specific goals are to: Strengthen relationships with MDT partners. Provide a forum for collaboration and information sharing among these partners. Increase the knowledge of these partners in order to optimize the investigation of child abuse cases including sexual abuse, physical abuse, internet crimes against children and human trafficking. Outcomes will include: Increased number of child abuse victims receiving services at Children’s Advocacy Center. Increased number of investigators collaborating with each other, thus strengthening capacity and resource sharing. Improved assessment, investigation and prosecution of suspected child abuse cases.
48 PROPOSAL SUMMARY Shaken Baby Alliance Request Amt: $334,706 (Two Years: Total Project Budget - $334,706)
Applicant Contact Shaken Baby Alliance Bonnie Armstrong, Executive Director 8101 Boat Club Road Project Title: Case Consultation Services Evaluation Fort Worth, TX 76179 Program
Organizational Background: Since 1998, Shaken Baby Alliance (SBA) has offered, through its Case Consultation Services program (CCS), a full range of forensic investigative and legal components necessary to strengthen and support the front-end, intake, assessment, investigative and prosecutorial phases of child welfare. We address the gaps in services by making accessible the vast knowledge of practicing state and national expertise to areas lacking critical resources. By extending the assistance of expert consultants to rural, low income, and underserved areas of the state, including urban areas facing growing populations and inadequate resource distribution, the program leverages the capacity of existing resources to improve their service delivery.
Organizational Budget: $628,222
Prior Grants: Last Grant Amount: $20,000 Last Grant Date: October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019
Classifications: Support Type: Salary & Benefits, Travel, Operating Geographic Area Served: Texas
Project Description: While anecdotal evidence paints an overwhelmingly positive picture of the program, SBA realizes that reliance on informal feedback alone does not suffice to verify methodology or give credence to the protocols and procedures used by consultants to be evidence-based. SBA lacks formal evaluation mechanisms for its CCS program. This grant submission is for a two-year evaluation project to provide comprehensive evidence of the degree to which the CCS program achieves its intended objectives. The evaluation will encompass at least 5 retroactive and 10 current cases (5 per year) to identify evidence-based best practices model and guides that can be applied to deliver statewide, systems-level improvement. A two-year study is needed to encompass the past, present, and future data needed for a comprehensive study. While the study is ongoing, Case Consultations will continue and be evaluated.
To ensure objectivity throughout the assessment and validity of the results, Dr. Michael Bachmann will lead the Evaluation Project for the two-year period. Dr. Bachmann is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and teaches statistics at Texas Christian University (TCU) and has over 22 years of experience in designing and executing research assessments, including several large-scale grant projects and evaluation studies. Dr. Bachmann’s responsibilities for the Evaluation Project include: the design and implementation of the CCS Evaluation Project to include an objective, systematic, and comprehensive evaluation component that will assess the program process throughout its various stages with both formative and summative feedback included. He will write and publish a final project report that will include research findings and recommendations on best tools, materials, and practice to supply key stakeholders and other practitioners with evidence-based best practice guidelines for improvement of child physical abuse investigations in both civil and criminal court cases.
49 PROPOSAL SUMMARY Shaken Baby Alliance Request Amt: $49,965 (Two Years: Total Project Budget - $76,350)
Applicant Contact Shaken Baby Alliance Bonnie Armstrong, Executive Director 8101 Boat Club Road Project Title: Forensic Investigations Trainings Fort Worth, TX 76179
Organizational Background: The Shaken Baby Alliance’s (SBA) mission is to provide support for victim families and professionals, to prevent child abuse, and to provide justice for the innocent victims. SBA began in 1998 in Fort Worth by three mothers whose children were victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome and could find no resources or support. SBA saw a specific need, developed partnerships with stakeholders across the state and nation, and implemented a plan to address child physical abuse in the State of Texas and beyond. For over twenty years, SBA has supported victim families and children in need while developing into a nationally recognized forensic training and case consulting agency for professionals in the field of child physical abuse.
Organizational Budget: $628,222
Prior Grants: Last Grant Amount: $20,000 Last Grant Date: October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019
Classifications: Support Type: Salary & Benefits, Travel, Operating, Contractual Geographic Area Served: Tarrant County
Project Description: The goal of this two-day multidisciplinary team (MDT) training, “The Forensic Investigation in Child Physical Abuse, Child Fatality, & Child Neglect Cases” is to provide a minimum of 150 MDT (75 per year in 2020 and 2021) with a strong foundational understanding of the medical aspects of child physical abuse/neglect and forensic investigative techniques, and the tools necessary to investigate, prosecute, and ultimately protect children. Successful legal case outcomes depend on the investigator having the knowledge and skills to develop a legal solid case. This includes a thorough medical examination, proper diagnosis, a complete and timely investigation and a knowledgeable response by the civil and criminal legal systems. Our training, taught by an expert MDT faculty including certified medical professionals, licensed peace officers, certified educators, LCSW, and legal professionals actively working cases, provides the tools and the most current knowledge available to the field. The proposed training is targeted to Region 3, which contains the counties with the highest rates of child fatalities as reported by TDPRS in FY2018. In that year, Texas had 211 child abuse fatalities, an increase of 22.7% of FY 2017. The increase is predominately due to physical abuse fatalities which increased by 52% from 58 to 93 deaths from physical abuse. Tarrant County had 21 child deaths, second only to Harris with 45 child deaths. It will be held in Tarrant County in years 2020 and 2021, and targeted to law enforcement, CACs, CPS/CCL, First Responders, legal personnel, social workers, CASA, forensic interviewers, child advocates, medical providers, WIC program staff, ECI Specialists and other key personnel who regularly interact with children.
50 PROPOSAL SUMMARY Texas Legal Services Center Request Amt: $270,300 (Two Years: Total Project Budget - $772,287)
Applicant Contact Texas Legal Services Center Karen Miller, Executive Director 2101 S. IH-35 Project Title: Family Helpline Austin, TX 78741
Organizational Background: The Family Helpline is a program within Texas Legal Services Center (“TLSC”) located in Austin, Texas. TLSC is a non-profit legal office that strives to fill gaps in the community’s access to justice throughout the state of Texas. TLSC began in 1977 as a non-profit legal service to facilitate communication and legal support to various legal aid organizations throughout the state. Over the past 40 years, our organization has grown to provide legal programs that address issues related to child welfare, family law, crime victims, veterans, elderly Texans, pro se litigants, pensions, and transactional legal assistance. The overwhelming majority of individuals served by TLSC are low-income. Poverty creates significant barriers to obtaining legal assistance. TLSC works every day to provide services to those individuals who would not otherwise receive access to justice.
Organizational Budget: $5,698,184
Prior Grants: Last Grant Amount: $100,000 Last Grant Date: October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019
Classifications: Support Type: Salary & Benefits, Travel, Operating Geographic Area Served: Texas
Project Description: The Family Helpline strives to improve the lives of families and children facing Texas child protection legal issues by informing, educating, and empowering families with accurate and objective legal information regarding the Texas child welfare system. Our service provides families who have questions regarding the Texas Child Protective Services (“CPS”) process easy and efficient telephonic access to experienced child welfare attorneys. Decisions made by families during a CPS case can be stressful and can have long-term impacts on the children involved. The Family Helpline provides a place for families to access compassionate listeners, clear communicators, and reliable legal information from experienced child welfare attorneys in an anonymous setting.
As the only Texas statewide legal project specifically focused on assisting families facing CPS issues, the Family Helpline is uniquely positioned to positively impact the Texas child welfare system. Data gathered from Helpline calls provides a unique statewide data set because it originates from the viewpoint of families involved in the child welfare system. The Family Helpline gathers a wealth of information, which can help identify potential trends and systemic issues in the Texas child protection system both statewide and locally. Through collaboration and data information sharing with child welfare stakeholders, the Family Helpline hopes to assist in the improvement of the Texas child welfare system on a larger scale.
51 PROPOSAL SUMMARY Texas Network of Youth Services Request Amt: $140,000 (One Year: Total Project Budget - $150,000)
Applicant Contact Texas Network of Youth Christine Gendron, Executive Director Services PO Box 26855 Project Title: Strengthening Safety Nets: Creating Austin, TX Community Resilience through Collaboration
Organizational Background: For nearly forty years, Texas Network of Youth Services (TNOYS) has been working to strengthen, support, and protect critical services for Texas youth and families who are in crisis. TNOYS is a statewide membership organization, with members providing services across the continuum of care, from prevention and early intervention, crisis intervention, foster care, transitional living, and more. TNOYS uses a comprehensive, systems-change approach that includes policy advocacy, training and program development, and engaging youth with lived experience as partners. (This approach can be summarized as “policy, practice and partnership/participation.”) TNOYS regularly works across systems and has existing relationships in place to effectively carry out this project. TNOYS works within the child welfare system on a regular basis and has facilitated an Emergency Shelter Task Force for shelters taking foster care placements for more than twenty years. TNOYS also works regularly with the education, justice, housing, victim services, and health and behavioral health systems. TNOYS has experience engaging first responders, disaster relief organizations, and other stakeholders relevant to this project. TNOYS is currently wrapping up a project titled “Safety Nets for Students and Families.” Through a $1 million grant from Rebuild Texas Fund, TNOYS has spent the last year working with partner organizations to strengthen community capacity to meet needs of children, youth and families experiencing homelessness as a result of Hurricane Harvey.
Organizational Budget: $1,716,214
Prior Grants: NA
Classifications: Support Type: Salary & Benefits, Travel, Operating, Contractual Geographic Area Served: Texas
Project Description: TNOYS proposes to convene child welfare providers, first responders, and disaster relief agencies to share information on challenges and best practice for keeping children safe during and after natural disasters. TNOYS will also identify and develop recommended policies and protocols, and training content and resources, in collaboration with stakeholders and based on research and best practices for keeping children safe during and after natural disasters. Finally, TNOYS will partner with stakeholders to collaboratively deliver training and implement policies, protocols, and other best practices. TNOYS anticipates that this project will produce the following outcomes: New or enhanced relationships or collaboration between child welfare providers and their local first responders and disaster relief agencies. These new or enhanced relationships will be assets to communities toward the goal of keeping children safe when future natural disasters do inevitably occur. Increased knowledge and skills and implementation of effective policies and practices among first responders and disaster relief agencies in regard to keeping children safe from victimization and exploitation, including abuse, neglect, and child sex trafficking, during and after a natural disaster. Increased knowledge and skills and implementation of effective policies and practices among child welfare providers in the areas of emergency preparedness and response for keeping children in their care safe during and after a natural disaster.
52 PROPOSAL SUMMARY CASA of Travis County Request Amt: $110,748 (One Year: Total Project Budget - $110,748)
Applicant Contact CASA of Travis County Laura Wolf, CEO 7600 Chevy Chase Drive Project Title: Pilot Project to Enhance the Safety of Austin, TX 78752 Children Placed at Shelters and RTCs
Organizational Background: CASA of Travis County is ideally qualified to lead the proposed project because we have become an expert in child abuse prevention and identification specific to CASA programs and the kinds of concerning situations CASA programs can expect the children for whom they advocate to sometimes be in. For the past several years, CASA of Travis County has been a leader in the development and implementation of policies and protocols that help ensure the safety of the children for whom CASA advocates while they are in the care of CASA volunteers and employees. CASA of Travis County has internal policies and practices requiring staff to document and escalate any troubling incident that occurs during the course of a case. Troubling incidents include abuse in a placement (by an adult or by another child), boundary violations by an adult, self-harm, running away or any other troubling incident. For the past year, CASA has been tracking these incident reports by number and type. 128 incident reports were made by CASA staff in the final 8 months of 2018. Just in the first five months of 2019, 191 incident reports were made. Of the 191 incident reports made this year, 81 reports (42%) were about children living in shelters or RTCs. In contrast, only 11% of the children to whom CASA is currently appointed reside in shelters or RTCs.
Organizational Budget: $5,333,000
Prior Grants: NA
Classifications: Support Type: Salary & Benefits, Travel, Operating Geographic Area Served: Travis County/Texas
Project Description: CASA of Travis County proposes a 12-month pilot project to strengthen the capacity of guardians ad litem in Texas to monitor the safety of foster children living in institutional congregate care (e.g. residential treatment centers (RTCs) and shelters). This project will leverage CASA of Travis County’s current expertise in child safety to increase the knowledge and ability of CASA/guardian ad litem programs around the state through development of a guide to assessing child safety in RTCs and shelters as well as a training that can be used by CASA staff and volunteers around the state. CASA of Travis County will hire a CJA-funded Child Safety Specialist to develop the guide and training and to pilot the use of these tools through at least quarterly visits to children and youth to whom CASA of Travis County is appointed and who are placed in RTCs or shelters. The rationale behind creating a new Child Safety Specialist position at CASA of Travis County is that we believe a position that can look across systems for patterns and consistent threats rather than focusing on and responding to one child at a time (the role of CASA volunteers and their supervisors) will enable us to determine whether a statewide initiative of this sort would benefit children in Texas. A stand-alone position without a regular caseload is best suited for this kind of physical presence, discernment and analysis.
53 CJA TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE REPORT
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Meredith Chacon, Jesse Gonzales, Ann Johnson, Lindsay Mullins, Cordelia Perez, Dan Powers, Joy Rauls, Monica Reyes, Jeff Rich, Vicki Spriggs, Jim Sylvester, and Angela Tucker
I. Committee Scope of Work
A. Recruitment of new Task Force members
a. Identify Primary and Secondary Categories for Task Force member recruitment b. Strategic Recruitment of 2‐4 new Task Force Members for term beginning in fall of 2019
B. Present recommendations for membership positions
II. Member Recruitment
a. Background
February 15th – Membership Committee met by conference call to discuss priority criteria for member recruitment. The primary disciplines the committee identified were civil court judge, parent group representative, and mental health. A representative from juvenile justice was identified as a secondary discipline to seek out nominations for. The Membership Committee discussed the continued need for the Task Force to ensure that we have geographic diversity in our membership as well as the need to ensure that both urban and rural areas of the state were represented.
April 12th – CJA staff presented the Membership Committee’s recommendations for priority and secondary criteria to the Task Force at the quarterly Task Force meeting.
April 15th – Staff emailed nominations form with information about the primary and secondary expertise needs. The deadline for nominations was April 30th
April 30th – Nominations forms due
July 2nd – Committee determined which candidates to nominate for Task Force Membership. Nominations were based on primary expertise/secondary expertise as well as Task Force priority for membership diversity.
54 b. Status ‐ Nominees:
A. Primary Priority Areas of Expertise
1. Civil Court Judge – LeAnn Rafferty
2. Parent Group Representative – Verlyn Johnson
B. Secondary Priority Areas of Expertise (representing gaps that will present beyond 2019 or other desired categories) include:
a) Mental Health Professional – Suzy Gange
b) Juvenile Justice – Jason Davis
55 III. Recommendations for Renewing Task Force Members
A. Background:
1. Bylaws direct the Membership Committee to recommend candidates to fill Task Force member vacancies.
C. Committee shall present nominations for new and renewing Task Force members at the final Task Force meeting of the fiscal year. Recommendations shall be provided in writing and shall be voted on.
D. Seven current Task Force members are up for re‐election for either their third or second terms and all would like to be nominated for an additional term.
B. Status:
E. The following seven Task Force members’ nominations are approved for re‐ election.
1. Jon Evans – 3rd Term
2. Denise Hyde – 3rd Term
3. Stephanie Stephens – 3rd Term
4. Angela Tucker– 3rd Term
5. Kriste Burnett – 2nd Term
6. Jeff Rich – 2nd Term
7. Beth Senger – 2nd Term
56 SLATE OF NOMINEES FOR TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP
Name of Individual Key Criteria Candidate Name Candidate Title Agency/Org. Affiliation Making Primary Primary Expertise Relevant Experience Recommendation Ethnic/Racial/Geographic
Jason is the Chief Probation Officer for the Kerr County Juvenile Department where he oversees assessment and supervision of juvenile offenders. Also a bd mbr for the Chief Probation Kerr County Juvenile Jason Davis Joy Rauls Juvenile Probation Hill County Crisis Council, agency providing Central Texas Officer Department children's advocacy services, shelter & advocacy for family violence & adult sexual assault survivors. Also on the board of Hill Country Youth Ranch School and Baptist Child & Family Services Currently the Director of Clinical Services for the Denton County CAC. Past Clinical Director of Clinical Supervisor at the CAC of Collin County. Suzy Gange CAC for Denton County Dan Powers Mental Health North Texas Services Former CPS caseworker. Suzy has extensive knowledge in the field of child abuse and the MDT approach as well as roking with partner agencies. Verlyn works w/ CPS as the Parent Representative for Region 7 ‐ helping parents involved w/ CPS navigate the system. She successfully worked with CPS in the past. As a Family Partner, she help Certified Family Heart of Texas Klaras Center Verlyn Johnson Monica Reyes Parent Representative families with mental health issues navigate Central Texas/Black Partner for Families systems. She's the current chair of the Statewide Parent Collaboration Group and is on the Statewide Disproportionality Task Force and chair of her local Disproportionality Task Force
Judge Rafferty is a judge of general jurisdiction and presides over both civil and LeAnn Rafferty District Judge 123rd Judicial District Court Joy Rauls Civil Court Judge criminal child abuse cases. Her court covers East Texas both Shelby and Panola Counties. She serves on the Juvenile Probation Board for both counties and is the Presiding Judge of the Panola Community Supervision Board. She also serves on the East Texas Adult Probation Board of Judges.
57 58 59 60 61 Slate of Task Force Members for Re‐Election
Key Criteria
Candidate Name Candidate Title Agency/Org. Affiliation Task Force Term Primary Expertise Secondary Expertise
Jon Evans Attorney Lusk & Evans 3rd Defense Attorney
Denise Hyde Attorney Denise Hyde Law Firm 3rd Attorney Ad Litem
Assistant County Nacogdoches County Stephanie Stephens 3rd Prosecuting Attorney Attorney Attorney's Office
Angela Tucker Judge 199th District Court 3rd Criminal Court Judge
Kriste Burnett District Attorney 29th Judicial District 2nd Prosecuting Attorney
Jeff Rich Detective Plano Police Department 2nd Law Enforcement
Individual experienced in Chief Executive Beth Senger El Paso Center for Children 2nd workin with homeless Officer children and youth
62
Texas Children’s Justice Act Task Force Bylaws Adopted 9/28/07
Revised: 1/29/09 7/22/11 1/07/15
1 63
Article I ‐ Name
1.1 The name of this advisory body shall be the Texas Children’s Justice Act Task Force (Task Force).
Article II –Statutory Basis/Purpose
2.1 Purpose. The Task Force is established in accordance with the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (codified at 42 USC 5106c) which authorizes grants to states to develop, establish, and operate programs designed to improve:
2.1.1 The assessment and investigation of suspected child abuse and neglect cases, including cases of suspected child sexual abuse and exploitation, in a manner which limits additional trauma to the child and the child’s family;
2.1.2 The assessment and investigation of cases of suspected child abuse‐related fatalities and suspected child neglect‐related fatalities;
2.1.3 The investigation and prosecution of cases of child abuse and neglect, including child sexual abuse and exploitation; and
2.1.4 The assessment and investigation of cases involving children with disabilities or serious health‐related problems who are suspected victims of abuse or neglect.
2.2 Recommendation Categories. Children’s Justice Act grants shall be used to implement Task Force recommendations in the following three categories:
2.2.1 Assessment and Investigation of cases of child abuse and neglect. Investigative, administrative, and judicial handling of cases of child abuse and neglect, including child sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as cases involving suspected child maltreatment‐ related fatalities and cases involving a potential combination of jurisdictions, such as interstate, federal‐state, and state‐tribal, in a manner which reduces the additional trauma to the child victim and the victim’s family and which also ensures procedural fairness to the accused;
2.2.2 Innovative approaches. Experimental, model, and demonstration programs for testing innovative approaches and techniques which may improve the prompt and successful resolution of civil and criminal court proceedings or enhance the effectiveness of judicial and administrative action in child abuse and neglect cases, particularly child sexual abuse and exploitation cases and cases involving children with disabilities or serious health‐related problems, including the enhancement of performance of court‐appointed attorneys and guardians ad litem for children, and which also ensure procedural fairness to the accused; and
2.2.3 Process improvement. Reform of state laws, ordinances, regulations, protocols and procedures to provide comprehensive protection for children from abuse, including sexual abuse and exploitation, while ensuring fairness to all affected persons.
2 64 2.3 Limitations. Supporting child abuse prevention programs or treatment services is not an appropriate use of CJA funds. CJA funds are to be primarily focused on the front end, intake and investigative piece of child welfare. Projects selected by State Task Forces should be mindful that funds are to be spent to support efforts at this point in a child welfare case.
Article III ‐ Activities
3.1 Advisory Role. The Task Force shall act as an Advisory Committee to the Governor’s Office and/or its designee.
3.2 Task Force Responsibilities. The Task Force’s responsibilities are as follows: 3.2.1 Participate in the three‐year assessment process to comprehensively evaluate the State’s investigative, administrative, and judicial handling of cases of child abuse and neglect, including child sexual abuse, as well as cases involving suspected child maltreatment‐related fatalities and cases involving a potential combination of jurisdictions. The results of the Three‐Year Assessment will serve as the basis for policy and training recommendations to improve the child protection system.
3.2.2 Determine the priorities that will guide the grant‐making process as well as inform CJA’s purpose.
3.2.3 Make recommendations regarding legislative or policy issues. The Task force may submit to the legislature proposed statutory improvements consistent with its mission or policy and training recommendations, propose related interim legislative studies and/or express shared opinions on other state policy issues. In order to make a recommendation on a legislative or policy issue, the matter must first be presented to and approved by the Task Force.
3.2.4 Support CJA staff. The Task Force should ensure that CJA staff has the resources and support they need to further the goals of the Task Force.
3.2.5 Ensure effective planning. The Task Force must actively participate in periodic planning processes and assist in implementing and monitoring resulting recommendations.
3.2.6 Monitor and strengthen programs and services. The Task Force’s responsibility is to determine which programs are consistent with Task Force recommendations and to monitor the effectiveness of those programs.
3.2.7 Build a competent Task Force. The Task Force has a responsibility to articulate prerequisites for candidates, orient new members, and periodically and comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of the Task Force’s efforts.
3.2.8 Ensure ethical integrity. The Task Force is ultimately responsible for adherence to grant conditions and ethical norms. Task Force members shall recognize and disclose all actual and potential conflicts of interest. Task Force members shall not communicate with potential grantees regarding pending applications nor communicate with existing grantees in manners related to grant administration, unless such activity is conducted in coordination with CJA Project staff. Task Force members shall recognize and disclose all actual and potential conflicts of loyalty as well as conflicts of interest. Conflicts of loyalty sometimes arise that do not involve financial gain and we encourage that relationships 3 65 and affiliations that might result in future conflict of loyalty be disclosed. These relationships and affiliations have potential for both conflicts of loyalty and collaborative benefits and open discussion of such situations allows for informed and thoughtful choices.
3.2.9 Enhance the organization's public standing. The Task Force should clearly articulate CJA’s mission, accomplishments, and goals to the public and garner support from the community.
3.2.10 Attend Task Force meetings. New Task Force members shall attend a new member orientation prior to the first Task Force meeting of the fiscal year. All Task Force members shall regularly attend quarterly Task Force meetings.
3.2.11 Actively contribute skills, expertise, and knowledge to the Task Force. Members shall serve on committees and working groups and attend professional development programs relevant to the purpose and goals of the Task Force. 3.2.12 Approve projects supported by the CJA grant. The Task Force shall approve subawards and other project‐related funding decisions.
3.3 Staff Responsibilities. Staff responsibilities are as follows: 3.3.1 Coordinate and provide support for Task Force, committee, and working group meetings. 3.3.2 Participate in discussions as appropriate during Task Force, committee, and working group meetings.
3.3.3 Prepare the annual federal application and other required reports. 3.3.4 Act as primary contact with federal funder and participate in meetings, discussions, and workgroups as needed
3.3.5 Coordinate and oversee the Three Year Assessment process
3.3.6 Develop processes for implementing Task Force recommendations.
3.3.7 Review and recommend projects for CJA support.
3.3.8 Perform daily administrative functions of the grant, including programmatic and fiscal monitoring.
3.3.9 Provide updates to Task Force members on grant activities.
3.3.10 Act as primary contact with grantees and prospective grantees regarding funding opportunities and grant activities.
3.3.11 Develop and maintain the Task Force budget.
Article IV ‐ Membership
4.1 Mandatory Representation. The Task Force shall be composed of individuals with knowledge and
4 66 experience relating to the criminal justice system and issues of child physical abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse and exploitation, and child maltreatment‐related fatalities. In accordance with the federal program instructions, the Task Force shall include members representing the following disciplines: 4.1.1 Law Enforcement Community;
4.1.2 Criminal Court Judge(s);
4.1.3 Civil Court Judge(s);
4.1.4 Prosecuting Attorney(s);
4.1.5 Defense Attorney(s);
4.1.6 Child Advocate(s) (Attorneys for Children);
4.1.7 Court Appointed Special Advocate Representative(s);
4.1.8 Health Professional(s);
4.1.9 Mental Health Professional(s);
4.1.10 Child Protective Service Agencies;
4.1.11 Individual(s) Experienced in Working with Children with Disabilities;
4.1.12 Parent Group Representative(s);
4.1.13 Adult Former Victim(s) of Child Abuse or Neglect; and
4.1.14 Individual(s) Experienced in Working with Homeless Children and Youth. 4.2 Discretionary Members. In addition to the categories included in the federal program instructions, the Task Force shall include members representing the statewide membership association of local children’s advocacy centers. Other members may be added at the discretion of the Task Force.
4.3 Member Diversity. To the extent possible, the Task Force shall strive to include members who bring diverse perspectives and reflect varied race, ethnicities, and genders, as well as representing the various geographic regions of Texas.
4.4 Task Force Elections. The Membership Committee shall present nominations for new and renewing Task Force members at the final Task Force meeting of the fiscal year. Recommendations from the Membership Committee shall be provided to the Task Force in writing before nominations are made and voted on. New and renewing Task Force members shall be elected by a majority of Task Force members at the final Task Force meeting of the fiscal year or at the next Task Force meeting at which a quorum is present. Task force member terms shall commence on the first day of the federal fiscal year.
4.5 Term Limits. Members shall serve two‐year terms. No person shall serve more than three consecutive two‐year terms unless a majority of the Task Force at a Task Force meeting at which a quorum is present elects a Task Force member who is in his/her final year of service to an officer position. No person shall serve more than seven consecutive years. Following the expiration of his/her term, a Task Force member may be eligible for re‐election to the Task Force after a one‐year hiatus. 5 67
4.6 Meeting Attendance. In order to protect the Task Force from being out of compliance with the federal program instructions, if any member fails to attend two (2) consecutive, regularly scheduled meetings of the Task Force, the Chair will communicate in writing to the member a reminder of the Task Force meeting attendance policy. If any member fails to attend three (3) consecutive, regularly scheduled meetings of the Task Force, the Chair will communicate in writing requesting the member to recommit to the Task Force or resign.
4.7 Number. The Task Force shall have a maximum of 30 and no fewer than 18 members.
4.9 Vacancies. Vacancies in membership shall be filled as soon as practical by a special election if necessary to maintain statutorily required representation as set out in Section 4.1. Otherwise, vacancies will be filled or additional members added (up to the maximum allowable number) at the next general election.
4.10 Special Elections. Special elections to fill unexpired terms shall be held in the same manner as task force elections (See section 4.5).
Article V ‐ Officers
5.1 Officers. Officers of the Task Force shall consist of a Chair, Chair‐Elect and Vice Chair.
5.2 Chair. The Duties of the Chair include the following:
5.2.1 Guiding and leading the Task Force toward its goals;
5.2.2 Presiding at Task Force meetings;
5.2.3 Approving the written agenda for meetings of the Task Force;
5.2.4 Appointing committees and committee chairs as provided by these bylaws; and
5.2.5 Overseeing federally required assessments.
5.3 Vice Chair. The Vice Chair shall preside at meetings in the absence of the Chair and perform other duties as may be assigned by the Chair or be necessary in the event of a temporary absence of the Chair.
5.4 Chair‐Elect. The Chair‐Elect shall participate in all activities of the Task Force Chair, so as to prepare to take over the leadership role of the Task Force and to ensure continuity in the leadership transition process. In the event the current chair must permanently relinquish his/her duties, the Chair‐Elect shall assume the leadership role for the Task Force.
5.5 Term. Officers are elected for a one year period upon majority vote of Task Force members present or by the returning of e‐mail ballots, and may serve a maximum of two one‐year terms.
5.6 Qualifications. To the extent possible, officers should represent different disciplines to ensure Task Force leadership reflects a multidisciplinary perspective.
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Article VI‐ Committees
6.1 Appointment. The Chair, Chair‐Elect and Vice Chair shall designate and appoint committees of the Task Force as deemed necessary. Non‐Task Force members may be appointed to any committee at the discretion of the Chair. Chairs of committees must be Task Force members.
6.2 Committee Chairs. The Task Force Chair shall designate the chairperson for each committee. Task Force members are expected to serve on committees as needed.
6.3 Standing Committees. The Task Force shall maintain the following standing committees: Executive Committee and Grants Committee. .
6.3.1 Executive Committee. The Executive Committee shall be composed of the officers of the Task Force, the chairs of each standing committee, and at the Chair’s discretion, one additional voting member. The Executive Committee shall be responsible for overseeing Task Force business in the intervals between meetings and dealing with matters of urgency that may arise between meetings. The Executive Committee shall meet at the discretion of the Chair.
6.3.2 Grants Committee. The Grants Committee shall oversee the annual grant process, review grant applications, and make final recommendations regarding grant funding to the Task Force. Ex‐officio members or members whose agencies have pending grant proposals before the Task Force shall not serve on the Grants Committee.
Ad Hoc Committees. The Task Force committee structure shall be established and aligned based on the needs identified in the three year assessment. The Chair‐Elect may identify proposed committees and committee chairs for each new fiscal year at the July Task Force meeting. 6.5 Term of Office. Each member of a committee shall serve a term of one year, unless the committee is terminated sooner or unless a committee member is removed from such committee.
6.6 Vacancies. Vacancies in the membership of any committee may be filled by appointment made in the same manner as provided in the case of the original appointments.
Article VII‐ Meetings
7.1 Frequency of Meetings. The Task Force shall schedule at least four meetings a year with additional meetings called by the Chair if necessary. A meeting schedule with at least three future meeting dates set shall be established at the beginning of each federal fiscal year. The Chair shall establish meeting dates in consultation with the Task Force. Meetings may be cancelled by the approval of a majority of the Task Force members.
7.2 Quorum. The presence of a majority of Task Force members shall constitute a quorum.
7.3 Task Force Action. The Task Force may adopt a position, plan action, or amend a recommendation 7 69 upon a majority vote of members present at a duly announced meeting, at which a quorum is present, provided that a written agenda has been distributed to all members at least three days in advance of the meeting. Although additional items may arise for discussion at a meeting, no final action shall be taken without written notice to all members, unless there is unanimous consent of those present and a quorum exists. Each Task Force member shall have one vote.
7.4 Electronic Voting. Members must be present to vote on matters under consideration by the Task Force, except that at the discretion of the Task Force Chair, matters may be voted upon by e‐mail ballot. Only duly elected Task Force members are permitted to vote.
7.5 Governance. Task Force meetings shall be conducted in accordance with the most current version of Robert’s Rules of Order unless otherwise specified by these bylaws.
Article VIII ‐ Conflicts of Interest
8.1 Each Task Force member shall annually sign a Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form. Task Force members shall abide by the Conflict of Interest policy as it appears on the Disclosure Form.
Article IX – Confidentiality
9.1 Task Force members shall not disclose sensitive information obtained as a result of the grant award and monitoring process or the content of Task Force deliberations regarding grant approval. CJA staff shall act as sole contact with grantees and prospective grantees regarding pending applications and approved grant activities, as per Section 3.2.8
Article X ‐ Amendments
10.1 These bylaws may be amended upon majority vote of the Task Force membership at a duly announced meeting at which a quorum is present, provided that proposed amendments are distributed to members at least ten days in advance of the meeting.
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