The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has reported that 52 children and youth in its managing conservatorship were victims of sex trafficking in fiscal year 2018, an increase over prior years.
DFPS conservatorship is a type of legal guardianship that is either temporary or permanent and involves placement of a child in an emergency shelter, a relative’s home, foster care, or some other substitute living arrangement.
According to statistics published by DFPS last week, 1,843 children and youth in its conservatorship were reported as missing at some point during the 2018 fiscal year. Of the 1,582 who were recovered, 68 reported being sexually abused, and 23 reported being physically abused. Some experienced multiple forms of victimization.
DFPS stated that 197 children and youth were still considered missing as of August 31, 2018. The agency stopped searching for another 64 children and youth because they either turned age 18 while missing or because a court terminated the agency’s legal responsibility for them.
Each year about 3.5% of the children and youth in DFPS conservatorship are reported at some point missing. They go missing for variety of reasons, including dislike of their placement, a desire to see family, or a desire to see a boyfriend or a girlfriend, according to DFPS surveys of recovered children.
Older teens in the system are more likely to go missing than younger children, and girls are more likely than boys to go missing. 767 of those who were missing in 2018 were Hispanic, 524 were Anglo, 465 were African American, and fewer than 100 were another race or unknown race or ethnicity.
DFPS has been tracking figures on sex trafficking since fiscal year 2016, pursuant to a law enacted in 2015. Prior to that, instances of sex trafficking were categorized together with other forms of abuse or neglect.
The number of sex trafficking cases reported for FY 2018 represents a significant increase over 2017 and 2016, when only 35 and 31 children in DFPS conservatorship were trafficked.
Texas lawmakers have allocated additional funds in recent years to improve the Child Protective Services system, while the attorney general’s office has made efforts to crack down on sex trafficking and the exploitation of minors.
The release of this year’s human trafficking data comes on the heels of the retirement announcement of DFPS Commissioner Hank Whitman, who leaves at the end of this month. Whitman, a former chief of the Texas Rangers, undertook a major shakeup at the agency when he was appointed to run it in 2016. He oversaw an expansion of the number of child protection caseworkers and investigators and a salary hike for caseworkers.
In a farewell video message to agency staff, which also was posted to social media, Whitman stated that during his tenure DFPS had achieved a reduction of turnover in caseloads, launched a human trafficking program, and improved the training of supervisors. He told DFPS employees, “It has been a great honor to work with you. I have had a long career in public service before coming here. But I can honestly say that protecting the unprotected with you has been the most satisfying time of my professional life.”
