A 14-year-old girl claims that a Texas Child Protective Services employee encouraged her to become a prostitute, leading to the employee’s termination.
“My daughter told me that the worker had been telling her she should do these things, so she said she decided to video her,” Bazley said.
Reports say that the girl is being housed by CPS at a hotel, just like numerous other foster children in Harris County.
“And giving her an incentive to do so, and almost a threat of not having her needs being met, if she didn’t do what this woman very explicitly told her to do,” family law attorney Mike Schneider told FOX 26.
“If me, the parent, was to do something like this to my child, I would be bashed,” Bazley said. “I would be called a horrible parent. I would lose my kids.”
“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.”
Melissa Lanford, the TDFPS spokeswoman, said in a statement, “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 on August 10. The safety and appropriateness with which children in care must be treated is our paramount concern. Nothing less will be tolerated.”
