AUSTIN — Tens of thousands of infants and children believed to be in imminent danger of abuse or neglect, even death, are not being seen promptly by state child abuse investigators — and thousands of them haven’t been checked on at all.
Over the last two months, on any given day, more than 3,400 children who were on the radar of Child Protective Services hadn’t been seen once by a caseworker, according to state data of face-to-face interactions analyzed by The Dallas Morning News.
Across Texas, on an average day, nearly 700 unseen children are classified as extreme cases — “Priority 1” in the agency’s terms — in which they face an immediate safety threat or are at “risk of abuse or neglect that could result in death or serious harm.” For instance, an infant might be neglected by a drug-addled parent or a child is living with a relative suspected of sexual abuse. [Read Full Article]