The already embattled Texas Department of Family and Protective Service faces another challenge after the results of a six-month Austin American-Statesman investigation were published Sunday.  The newly-convened Legislature was expected to focus intense scrutiny on the beleaguered agency and the Statesman’s report will add fuel to the legislative fire.

The Statesman discovered 655 child abuse-related fatalities between 2010 and 2014 that weren’t publicly reported apparently because caseworkers decided that mistreatment didn’t directly cause those deaths.  Other state and court documents reveal that dozens of state caseworkers have been caught lying to prosecutors or ignoring court orders since at least 2009.

The death reporting is likely to come under intense scrutiny.  While the agency boasts that deaths of children under age 17 related to abuse have gone down, the reduction appears to be a result of inconsistent or outright fraudulent reporting of causation by the agency.

For the full story see http://projects.statesman.com/news/cps-missed-signs/undercounting.html