Kids are ‘suffering’: Advocates’ access to CPS cases declines under Fort Worth judge

A Tarrant County district judge is putting vulnerable children at risk by reversing a longtime practice of appointing volunteers to advocate for them as they move through the child welfare system, a group that trains the workers alleges.

For 36 years, trained volunteers have been assigned by Tarrant County courts to be advocates for children who have been removed from their parents in cases of abuse or neglect.

Known as court-appointed special advocates, or CASAs, these unpaid volunteers review records, conduct visits and ultimately make recommendations on where children should be placed, with the goal of reuniting them with their families if conditions are safe.

To the attorneys, foster families, case workers and judges, the volunteers are often an extra set of eyes and ears in an overburdened system where cases can range from abuse to newborns testing positive for drugs.

But this year, in the 323rd Family District Court north of downtown Forth Worth, the number of volunteers assigned to cases dropped drastically — with as many as three months passing without a single volunteer appointed, according to figures provided by CASA of Tarrant County, which has been operating since 1983.

CASA of Tarrant County said the sharp drop in assignments has been at the hands of one district judge: Alex Kim, who has presided over the court since January 2019.

Texas law allows the court to appoint volunteer advocates, but it is ultimately at the court’s discretion. Kim said the dip in appointments has been to ensure that he protects parents’ privacy, as volunteers are granted access to detailed case files.

“Before I violate a parent’s individual Fourth Amendment rights, I want to make sure that it’s for a justifiable reason,” Kim said.

But over the past year, Kim’s reasoning has led to what what some have called unprecedented barriers placed in the way of volunteers, going as far as seeking to hold a volunteer in contempt of court and limiting access to Child Protective Services records.

Kim maintains that his new changes are to put children and parents in the best situation for potential reunification. But CASA of Tarrant County officials said they have never seen a judge share Kim’s view regarding privacy rights.

In 2019, volunteers were assigned to 62 cases in the 323rd District Court — a drop of 282 cases compared to 2018, according to CASA of Tarrant County.

“We’ve got kids that still need a volunteer,” said Don Binnicker, CASA of Tarrant County’s CEO. “But we’ve got (volunteers) that can’t go serve them because the courts won’t allow that to happen.”

While Kim’s appointments have dwindled, CASA volunteers have continued to be appointed at the family courts downtown, with 176 cases assigned across the six courts in 2019.

“He’s basically tied our hands,” Binnicker said. “If he doesn’t assign us, we can’t help the family at all.”

All the while, children have continued to be removed from their families — with fewer volunteers assigned to advocate for their needs. As of December, CASA of Tarrant County was aware of 622 children who have not been assigned an advocate to their cases from 2018 and 2019.

“We’re not going to stop advocating on behalf of these kids, because the kids are the ones suffering here. It is not CASA,” Binnicker said. “And that’s what we continue to push forward on.”

Appointments dwindle

In Tarrant County, roughly 75% of child-removal cases end up in the 323rd District Court, with the others spread among the six district courts downtown.

In the past, judges presiding over the 323rd District Court allowed CASA of Tarrant County to review removal affidavits that are filed when a child comes into Child Protective Services’ care, so a volunteer could be matched to the case as soon as possible.

But under Kim, those standards have changed.

“Just because it’s always been one way doesn’t mean that was the right way,” Kim said. “I like to see every case as it comes into this court, and I like to see every case as it leaves.”

One of Kim’s biggest concerns is that CASA volunteers are allowed to review unredacted CPS case files — a right typically granted to CASAs across Texas — while parents’ attorneys can only access redacted versions.

“Through a government order, I’m giving a private citizen access to somebody’s most personal affairs,” Kim said. “I think all courts should be very cautious about doing that.”

Binnicker said volunteers go through 36 hours of training, in addition to a background check and 12 hours of annual training. Access to case files from Child Protective Services is key to understanding a child’s history, Binnicker said.

As appointments of CASA volunteers stalled, Kim told Binnicker he was hesitant to assign advocates, because in some cases, he didn’t see an expressed need, Binnicker said. Then in April, Kim introduced a set of forms, requiring a detailed history of the proposed CASA volunteer and an explanation how the volunteer would meet the child’s specific needs.

Kim said he was being cautious, in part, because of various studies evaluating the effects of CASAs, including one that found Texas foster children assigned a CASA volunteer are less likely to be placed in permanent homes.

“I truly believe that the heart of CASA workers are in the right place,” Kim said. “There’s a systematic problem in there.”

But for CASA, the new requirements presented a problem.

“We were supposed to tell him the needs of the child when we had never had access to the child, never been able to talk to the child, never been able to review the records,” Binnicker said.

After Kim approved 15 appointments in April, he assigned no CASA volunteers for the next three months, despite at least 86 cases in which children were removed from their parents in the 323rd District Court. And it was also during that time Kim placed sanctions on a CASA volunteer unlike any Binnicker said he has seen.

Contempt of Court

It started with a Facebook post.

Two CASA volunteers had been working on a case since January 2018 that involved multiple siblings originally split between three foster homes. The advocates were eventually able to reunite the children. But the foster family needed help.

After additional help couldn’t be secured through CPS and the child placement agency, a CASA volunteer, along with representatives from the two groups, decided to turn to the community. One of the volunteers posted in a closed neighborhood Facebook group, asking if anyone had spare time to help with the children.

“Nothing specific that could be considered as confidential information,” Binnicker said. “Just a very general request to see if anybody was interested.”

While CASA volunteers are encouraged to ask the community for donations and support, when CASA of Tarrant County learned of the post, they asked the volunteer to immediately take it down per their social media policy — which she did, Binnicker said.

In late April, Kim requested a meeting with Binnicker, CASA staff and the volunteer. But Binnicker was concerned that a meeting without CPS and other concerned parties would be a conflict in the child welfare case. So he said he suggested a meeting with everyone.

Shortly after, in May, the volunteer was ordered to appear before Kim and explain why she shouldn’t be held in contempt of court for potentially revealing what Kim deemed was confidential information in the Facebook post.

Because the contempt of court case was a part of the CPS case he was hearing, Kim was set to be the judge to hear the contempt motion — and determine whether the volunteer would face repercussions, such as fines and possible jail time.

“As a judge, you can’t be the prosecutor and the witness and the judge of any case,” said Jessica Janicek, the CASA volunteer’s attorney. “So we filed a request to have Judge Kim recused on that basis, because, in our opinion, it was a violation of my client’s due process for him to hear his own motion.”

Kim chose not to voluntarily recuse himself.

“Really, I just wanted to talk to her and say, ‘Hey, you can’t do this. And did you take it too far by disclosing personal information?’” Kim said.

In June, the presiding judge of the 6th Administrative Judicial Region, Stephen Ables, ruled that Kim must recuse himself. Ables dismissed the case in a later hearing.

The legal proceedings lasted through July, and represented unprecedented actions taken against a CASA of Tarrant County volunteer, Binnicker said.

“It confirmed the feeling that we had picked (up) on early on, that he was not in support of CASA, doesn’t believe in CASA and doesn’t see the value of CASA,” Binnicker said. “It impacts what we do going forward. It impacts the cases we’re working on.”

Restricting access

In December, Kim placed what CASA saw as a new barrier in its way.

In a child welfare case, Kim elected to appoint a volunteer, but prohibited the advocate’s ability to access records — severely limiting CASA’s ability to advocate effectively, Binnicker said.

The Star-Telegram reviewed a copy of a Dec. 4 order signed by Kim, in which he crossed out a section that stipulates the volunteer can obtain records from the child’s attorney and the Department of Family and Protective Services.

“I don’t have a problem with CASA,” Kim said, according to a transcript of the court record from Dec. 4. “I don’t have a problem with obtaining information as long as it’s justified. Before we infringe on somebody’s rights, I think there needs to be a reason why.”

Kellye Hughes, an attorney representing the child in the case, objected.

“I believe CASA can better do their job by having the information contained in the CPS file,” Hughes said, according to the transcript. Hughes declined to discuss the specifics of the case.

A little over a week later, shortly after the Star-Telegram began reporting this story, Kim changed his mind. On Dec. 13, he granted limited access to the child’s records. A copy of the new order, which was reviewed by the Star-Telegram, allows the volunteer to access records obtained by the child’s and parents’ attorneys. However, access to unredacted CPS case files was still withheld.

Kim said the initial order was a mistake, and that he feels the revised one is “fair.” Binnicker said he wasn’t surprised to see Kim alter his decision after the attorney insisted it be documented in the court record. Now, with limited access to records, CASA will look for a volunteer.

An added resource

Child welfare attorneys said CASA volunteers can often devote extra time and funds to ensure children’s needs are met in an already overburdened system.

“They’re going to the foster home more frequently than CPS can,” Hughes said, noting case workers can have dozens of cases at a time. And children’s attorneys “don’t have the time to lay eyes on the children as frequently as we would like.”

CASA volunteers are assigned at most two cases at a time, making an effort to visit the children at least twice a month in places like their home or school, Binnicker said. CASA volunteers often gather donations or buy supplies, such as beds, so parents can have a suitable living situation for the children — all at no cost to the court.

Sometimes, attorneys can be wary of CASA volunteers who may have little experience with the child welfare system. But in other instances, they’ve been a valuable asset, sticking with a child even as case workers and attorneys may change out, said a child welfare attorney, who asked that her name not be used for fear her cases may be negatively affected.

“It’s not a good idea to not let them help,” she said. “Child welfare, it’s so underfunded anyways. Why would you tell somebody, ‘No, you can’t help.’”

Kim said the changes are part of his efforts to be more proactive than previous judges, citing that the time it takes for a case to be resolved has gone down from about a year and a half to roughly nine months in his court.

“If somebody can show why it’s better for a kid, or a kid’s better off by intruding on the parents’ rights, then great. That’s not a problem,” Kim said. “The problem is when nobody can explain how the child is better served by intruding on somebody else’s rights.”

Deedra Baker, the chief program operations officer for Texas CASA, a statewide association for the 72 local CASA programs in Texas, pushed back on that assertion.

“We certainly want to be mindful and protective of the rights of the parent. We can’t exclude the rights of the child,” Baker said. “We’re just very concerned for the welfare of the children in Tarrant County.”

This story was originally published January 12, 2020 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Kids are ‘suffering’: Advocates’ access to CPS cases declines under Fort Worth judge."

Tessa Weinberg

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Tessa Weinberg was a state government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.