10 signatures reached
To: Dr. Candice Mathews
Mandate Fiscal Transparency and End Waste of Title IV-E Taxpayer Funds in Foster Care
We petition the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS/CPS), state lawmakers, and child welfare oversight committees to implement immediate, rigorous financial transparency for all entities receiving Title IV-E federal funding. Nationally, Title IV-E represents a massive $40 billion annual federal expenditure dedicated to child welfare. Yet, because the system lacks direct transaction tracking, millions in tax dollars intended strictly for the basic maintenance of foster children are being lost to administrative drift, privatization loopholes, and unmonitored placements.
As fiscal conservatives and concerned citizens, we demand that every organization, private contractor, kinship placement, and foster home receiving these funds be required to use a state-monitored, restricted-use financial account and auditable electronic transaction card. Taxpayers have a right to know exactly where their money is going, and vulnerable minors have a right to the basic provisions the law guarantees them.
The Fiscal Reality: Where is the Money Going?
The Fiscal Reality: Where is the Money Going?
Under section 475(4) of the Social Security Act, Title IV-E "foster care maintenance payments" are legally defined to cover specific, essential costs: food, clothing, shelter, daily supervision, and school supplies. These are not optional luxuries; they are explicit requirements funded by billions of our hard-earned tax dollars.
Despite this massive influx of capital, a severe lack of baseline auditing allows widespread financial mismanagement to hide in plain sight:
- Taxpayer Waste: Private contractors and foster placements receive predictable, consistent stipends to feed and clothe children, yet standard audits do not track how individual dollars are spent at the retail level.
- Deprivation of Needs: While the state pays private networks to care for minors, children are routinely kept in outgrown, painfully tight shoes and degraded clothing, relying on recycled hand-me-downs while the funding evaporates into organizational overhead or unverified provider accounts.
- The "Belong" Case Study: Under the oversight of Belong—a privatized organization managing case operations for Texas DFPS—a three-year-old child was forced to wear the exact same shirt three weeks in a row. He was crammed into shoes he had entirely outgrown five months prior.
Worse yet, when the biological parent, (myself) offered to purchase and provide brand-new clothing at zero cost to the state, the foster placement explicitly used a Belong caseworker to demand I stop sending my son back with anything, stating "we have everything we need for him." If the placement "has everything,” why is my three-year-old walking in shoes that crush his toes and wearing the same shirt three weeks in a row, smelling like dog? This is a blatant failure of fiscal stewardship.
•The Solution•
Conserving Capital through Digital Auditing
Conserving Capital through Digital Auditing
Throwing more money at a broken system will not fix it. We need structural accountability that respects the taxpayer and protects the child. We demand legislation implementing a three-part financial lock:
- Auditable Transaction Cards: Mandate that all foster care maintenance stipends be distributed via restricted-use electronic transaction cards. Every transaction must be digitally logged.
- Strict Category Enforcement: Limit card usage exclusively to merchants and categories defined by federal law—specifically clothing stores, grocery stores, and school supplies.
- Zero-Trust Accountability: Enforce routine digital audits of private contractors like Belong to eliminate the deep-seated waste and lack of transparency currently woven through the state’s privatized child welfare network.
We must stop treating multi-billion-dollar child welfare funds as an honor system for private organizations. Sign this petition to demand that our tax dollars are strictly conserved, transparently tracked, and spent directly on the children who need them.
Why is this important?
It is our duty as the public to speak for those who don’t have a voice. Long term reform is the goal and it can only happen when we pass on awareness and take action.
How it will be delivered
Hand Delivered.