AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - More children are ending up in foster care in Texas.
Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Anne Heiligenstein on Thursday told lawmakers that Texas will try to persuade more relatives of abused and neglected children to take the youngsters.
She says a federally backed program, starting Sept. 1, will pay relatives, who agree to be licensed as foster parents, to care for the youths.
Child Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins says Texas in January paid for foster care for 15,696 children. The state had budgeted for 14,586 youths.
Child welfare authorities partly attribute the increase to families strained by the recession.
Heiligenstein told the House Human Services Committee that about 500 Texas children have been in foster care for at least a decade.
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Information from: The Dallas Morning News
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