Texas AG says trans healthcare is child abuse. Will Fort Worth schools have to report?
The Fort Worth school district is “reviewing” the Texas attorney general’s opinion released earlier this week that said gender-affirming medical care and hormone treatments for transgender children are child abuse. The district said its review is to “ensure that current processes comply” with the opinion written by Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Board President Tobi Jackson said that such a response is the protocol for Fort Worth ISD, with more detailed information coming in the future.
The statements come a day after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrote a letter to the Department of Family and Protective Services and other agencies directing them to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas.”
Teachers, day care providers and medical professionals could face criminal penalties for failure to report child abuse, Abbott noted in the letter, although advocates and professional organizations called that into question.
The Texas Education Agency, which did not respond to a request for comment by Wednesday evening, was CCd on the letter, along with several other agencies.
The primary recipient, DFPS, confirmed in a statement that it would “follow Texas law as explained in (the) Attorney General opinion” adding that there are no pending “investigations of child abuse involving the procedures described in that opinion.”
“If any such allegations are reported to us, they will be investigated under existing policies of Child Protective Investigations,” the statement read.
Advocates question change to mandatory reporting
But the Texas Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers said in a statement that the move was nonbinding.
“NASW/TX reminds licensed social workers that this is a non-binding legal opinion and they still have professional discretion on mandatory reporting,” the statement released Wednesday said. “No rules on reporting were changed through this opinion, nor through the Governor’s letter.”
Alison Mohr Boleware, government relations director for the Texas chapter, told the Star-Telegram that as long as there are no changes to the law, the move is nothing more than a scare tactic.
“We’re encouraging licensed social workers to maintain their professional discretion on reporting requirements the same way that they would in the past, because no rules were changed,” she said. “Social workers need to know that they’re still beholden to their code of ethics that all of us have as licensed social workers, and that we are still supposed to stick to that whenever we’re making any type of mandatory reporting.”
That was echoed by Brian Klosterboer, a staff attorney with the Texas ACLU, who said in a statement that the opinion and letter “have no legal effect and cannot change Texas law nor usurp the constitutional rights of Texas families.”
“But they spread fear and misinformation and could spur false reporting of child abuse at a time when DFPS is already facing a crisis in our state’s foster care system,” Klosterboer said. “The law is clear that parents, guardians, and doctors can provide transgender youth with treatment in accordance with prevailing standards of care.”
Paul Tapp, the managing attorney for the Association of Texas Professional Educators, said any penalties for failing to report would be on a case-by-case basis, but that the AG’s opinion is just an opinion.
“The law as to what the definition of child abuse is, is actually stated in the Texas family code. And that law has not changed,” he told the Star-Telegram. “The attorney general has the authority to issue an opinion, which he has done, but it is just that — it is an opinion, which courts can, in determining whether an educator or any person has failed to make a report that they should have made, take that opinion into account.”
Teachers, like all licensed professionals in Texas have a duty to report suspected child abuse within 48 hours, Tapp said.
According to the Texas Association of School Boards, an employee’s failure to make the required report may result in prosecution as a Class A misdemeanor or a state jail felony if it is shown the individual intended to conceal the abuse or neglect.
White House, advocates decry AG opinion
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday condemned the governor’s directive, saying it harmed some of the state’s most vulnerable residents and comparing it to an ongoing effort from Republicans in Florida that would ban discussion of sexual and gender identity in classrooms.
“There are efforts in some states, not just Texas but also Florida and unfortunately others, designed to target and attack the kids who need support the most. LGBTQI plus students are already vulnerable to bullying and violence just for being themselves,” Psaki told reporters. “This isn’t an isolated action as evidenced by multiple states pursuing this. We’re seeing Republican leaders take actions to regulate what students can or cannot read, what they can or cannot learn, and most troubling, who they can or cannot be.”
In a statement, a separate White House officials said Paxton’s newly issued legal opinion was an “attack on loving parents who seek medical care for their transgender children.”
“Families should have the right to seek health care that will enable young people to live healthy and fulfilled lives,” said Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House’s principal deputy press secretary. “Conservative officials in Texas and other states across the country should stop inserting themselves into health care decisions that create needless tension between pediatricians and their patients. And no parent should face the agony of a politician standing in the way of accessing life-saving care for their child.”
Advocacy groups, including Equality Texas, slammed the decision, calling it the latest in an “onslaught of harmful legislation, inflammatory rhetoric and discredited legal opinions.”
“They have found it politically advantageous to spread lies about and villainize LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender people, grossly mischaracterizing our lives to paint us as scary caricatures that need to be feared, all in service of securing their re-elections,” the statement read.
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said in a statement that he would not “participate in these bad faith political games.”
“We’ll continue to follow the laws on the books — not General Paxton’s politically motivated and legally incorrect ‘opinion.’”
Organizations call move dangerous to trans youth
In August, seven professional organizations, including the Texas Society for Clinical Social Work and the Texas Pediatric Society wrote a letter to the commissioner of the DFPS warning that calling gender-affirming medical care child abuse could cause harm to an already vulnerable population.
“At their core, efforts that attempt to categorize gender-affirming medical care as a form of abuse that would need to be investigated by the Department of Family & Protective Services are an inaccurate depiction of abuse and inconsistent with professional child welfare standards,” the letter said.
The groups also noted in the letter that current professional guidelines and standards of care do not recommend surgeries for people under the age of 18.
“However, guidelines acknowledge that in certain circumstances, the benefits of chest wall masculinization surgery may outweigh the risks of worsening dysphoria,” they added.
Adri Pérez, a policy and advocacy strategist for the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement gender-affirming care saved their life.
“Trans kids today deserve the same opportunity by receiving the highest standard of care, rooted in decades of scientific research,” they said. “No partisan political attack can change that.”
Reporter Alex Roarty in McClatchy’s Washington Bureau contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 5:02 PM.
