Children’s Protective Services would more than likely remove a child from a parent who told them to become a prostitute.
“They should, and they would,” said family law attorney Mike Schneider.
Keisha Bazley has nine kids. She turned to Child Protective Services to help her with her 14-year-old daughter, who she says was running away and causing trouble at school.
“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.
CPS is housing the girl at a hotel. She’s one of dozens of foster kids living at hotels in Harris County.
In the video, the girl tells the CPS employee she wants food. The CPS worker tells her to be a prostitute.
“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,” Schneider said.
“If me, the parent, was to do something like this to my child, I would be bashed,” said Bazley. “I would be called a horrible parent. I would lose my kids.”
Bazley filed a formal complaint with CPS.
“This should not happen to girls in their care,” she said. “It should not happen. it’s unacceptable.”
Jamie Masters, the Commissioner of CPS, came to Houston to personally apologize to Bazley and her daughter.
“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, Texas DFPS Spokesperson 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.”
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