Texas asks to end foster-care oversight while missing 1 in 5 urgent abuse checks

On 10 July 2026 Texas filed a motion in M.D. v. Abbott (S.D. Tex., No. 2:11-cv-84), the 15-year-old foster care class action, asking to be released from the court's remedial orders on the ground that it has substantially complied. The State's own compliance chart, drawn from the court monitors' reports, shows the Department of Family and Protective Services made face-to-face contact with child victims within 24 hours in 79% of Priority One abuse and neglect investigations, and only 83% of foster children signed acknowledgment of how to report abuse. Monitor reports released in June 2026 also raised 'significant concerns' about children placed in homes with histories of abuse, neglect or exploitation, including a home that closed only after a child in its care died of a fentanyl overdose, and said the Health and Human Services Commission lets homes stay open when a private placing agency disagrees with closure.