AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – When two of the most troubled child welfare systems in the U.S. plunged into crisis, Republican governors in Texas and Arizona turned to law enforcement veterans who promised tough investigations, then saw the safety net for vulnerable kids worsen.
Arizona’s Greg McKay, a onetime Phoenix detective, has survived early calls for his firing as a once-massive case backlog wanes. Now Texas’ Hank Whitman, a retired Texas Ranger who actor Robert Duvall cast to play a lawman in the 2015 film “Wild Horses,” is under similar pressure to turn woeful numbers around quickly.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday publicly prodded his hand-picked appointee for quicker action just seven months after selecting Whitman, who had no child welfare experience and hasn’t slowed the trend of hundreds of reportedly abused kids the state is not checking on daily.
More than 200 children at risk for abuse or neglect go unseen by investigators each day around Dallas and Houston, according to state figures. About 50 kids in Texas slept in state caseworker offices in September, five times as many as the start of the year. A security guard was hired to watch over one office in Austin.
“I’m sure that’s not what the governor expected,” said Texas Democratic Rep. Armando Walle of Houston. “But when you have maybe somebody who doesn’t have any experience in CPS, then that’s a problem.”