After reportedly advising a 14-year-old girl to become a prostitute, a Texas Child Protective Services official was fired.
Keisha Bazley, a Texas mother of nine who contacted CPS for assistance with her daughter, 14, because she was running away and causing issues at school, told FOX 26 Houston that she had to contact family services since her child was doing both.
According to my daughter, the employee had been encouraging me to do these things, so I guess she wanted to record me,” Bazley claimed.
Like many other foster children in Harris County, CPS is placing the girl at a hotel.
A CPS worker is purportedly heard telling the teen in the video to become a prostitute during their conversation.
After viewing the video, family law attorney Mike Schneider told FOX 26 that the lady was “providing her an incentive to do so, and practically threatening to not have her needs addressed, if she didn’t do what this woman very specifically commanded her to do.”
“I would get beat up if I, the parent, did something like this to my child,” Bazley added. “I’d be criticised as a bad father. My children would be lost.
Bazley complained to CPS in writing. Jamie Masters, the commissioner of the organisation, reportedly travelled to Houston from the capital of the Lone Star State to express his regrets to Bazley and her daughter.
“This should not happen to girls in their care,” she said. “It should not happen. It’s unacceptable.”
“I’ve never seen that happen before where the commissioner of CPS comes in from Austin, just to apologize about something horrible that’s been done to a child involved with CPS,” Schneider said. “It’s bad enough if it’s just one bad rogue worker. It concerns me that it may be bigger than that, and they need to make sure it’s not just one person, and they’ve got to find a way to protect these kids.”
In a statement to FOX 26, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Melissa Lanford, said, “DFPS is aware of the video and has taken action. The person in the video – who was employed as CPS support staff – was dismissed from her position August 10. The safety and appropriateness with which children in care must be treated is our paramount concern. Nothing less will be tolerated.”
