Facing pressure from judge, Texas reassigns workers to care for foster kids in unlicensed homes

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Texas child welfare officials are reassigning staff to focus on monitoring the unlicensed motels and rental homes that house some of the most vulnerable children in the foster-care system — a move officials said Monday is the latest attempt to comply with a years-old court order to keep those children safer. Stephanie Muth, commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, told a federal district judge in Corpus Christi on Monday that her agency has trained about 30 experienced caseworkers to focus full-time on caring for children who have been removed from their homes but for whom the state has no licensed facility to place them.