Texas and its state public officials may take a tough stance on illegal aliens in the Lone Star State, but those who are illegally in Texas are allowed to adopt children in Texas courts. The agency responsible for placing children in foster care when children are abandoned, neglected, or abused, is allowing illegal aliens to adopt children. Other states in the United States are allowing illegal aliens to adopt children in their courts as well.
Officials at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (TDFPS) are issuing waivers to let illegal aliens adopt children out of its foster care system.
An agency spokesman, Patrick Crimmins confirmed with Breitbart Texas that the department is issuing waivers for these adoptions.
Crimmins confirmed that the division administrator in charge of placement at the department told a non-profit online publication that writes about children’s issues, “It’s part of the whole philosophy of the agency, recognizing that children first and foremost deserve to be within their own family.” She said the only qualifier was that the home be safe and permanent. The legal status of the adults in this country is not an issue.
The policy of the department, and Texas law, provides that in general, a child who becomes the subject of Child Protective Services (CPS) intervention, should be placed with family members.
Ellen Yarrell, a family law adoption legal expert in Houston told Breitbart Texas, “Nothing in the Texas Family Code addresses immigration status.” She added, “The statutes speak to the birthplace of the child and whether the court has jurisdiction over the child.”
Crimmins says TDFPS does a criminal background check on the illegal aliens that want to adopt.
Once adopted these children are in a position to possibly receive more state and federal benefits.
Most problematic is the issue of what happens to the children if an adoptive parent or parents are ever deported. The agency is supposed to have a contingency plan.
The department is signing waivers so illegal aliens can adopt children in Texas; yet, there is another option.
In cases where the child or children have relatives in Mexico, the department could work through the Mexican Consulate in order to obtain home studies of their family members in Mexico. Once a relative passes the home study and goes through the process, the child can be placed with the family in Mexico. States can work with other consulates as well.
A report by The Chronicle of Social Change states that between 2000 and 2010, the number of children in Texas grew by approximately one million. The percentage of Hispanic children in the state went from 40.5 percent to 48.3 percent.
The Chronicle for Social Change reported that besides Texas, Illinois has also been permitting illegal alien relatives to adopt, and has been doing so for a period longer than Texas. They write there is no waiver needed in Illinois because state law provides that “Immigration status of a relative caregiver should not hinder the placement of a relative child in the home.”
It also notes that there was a policy shift in California in 1993 after there was a lawsuit filed by the National Immigration Law Center. Now it is “common practice” to allow these adoptions. Just last year, there were approximately 1,600 background checks of illegal aliens for the purposes of foster care placement. Foster and kinship placements are the general precursors to adoption of a child in CPS or state child welfare care.
As it relates to the scenario where a child is an illegal alien and is unaccompanied by an adult, Breitbart News reported on May 2 that the influx of UACs (unaccompanied alien minors) cost the U.S. more than $16,000 per child. Moreover, the Obama administration is predicting that 75,000 unaccompanied alien children (UACs) will be illegally crossing the nation’s border at Mexico in FY 2017. The number of apprehended UACs has grown from 8,000 in 2008, to 69,000 in 2014. There was a slowdown but then the number of UACs almost doubled in 2016 compared to 2015.
The article discusses findings by the Center for Immigration Studies that projects that the costs in FY 2017 will reach $17,613 per unaccompanied alien child. The federal government is requesting $1.226 billion for funding the Unaccompanied Children (UC) program in FY 2017.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2