Lawyers ask appeals court to reinstate federal judge removed from long-running foster care case

A federal appeals court was asked Monday to reconsider its decision to overturn a costly contempt ruling and remove a district judge from a lawsuit over conditions in Texas’ struggling foster care system.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 11 that U.S. District Judge Janice Jack’s contempt ruling and $100,000-a-day fine violated the constitutional limits of the court’s power over individual states.

The appeals court panel also said Jack showed disrespect for the state and its lawyers during the long-running case.

Lawyers for children’s advocates in the case disagreed and on Monday asked for a hearing before all 17 full-time members of the appeals court in New Orleans. Their statement said the decision by Justices Edith Jones, Edith Brown Clement and Corey Wilson was contrary to precedent in a case involving vulnerable children.

“Removing a district judge with deep institutional knowledge poses great risks to the entire class of child plaintiffs by further delaying reform,” the lawsuit states. As of Monday evening, the state had not yet provided a response.

The case began in 2011 with a lawsuit regarding foster care conditions with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Since 2019, court-appointed monitors have periodically issued reports on DFPS’s progress in addressing threats to the safety of foster children.

A report published earlier this year noted progress in staff training but continued shortcomings in the response to investigations into allegations of abuse and neglect, including by children.

In one case, the plaintiffs say, a girl was left for a year at the same now-closed boarding school while 12 separate investigations were launched into allegations that a worker there raped her.

In Texas, about 9,000 children are in permanent state custody due to factors such as the loss of caregivers, abuse at home or health care needs that parents alone cannot meet.