Presenter urges Frio County to establish local child welfare board to support foster children

Dr. Wendy Knox, PhD, asked Frio County Commissioners Court on March 2025 to establish a local Child Welfare Board to coordinate services for children in foster care, support kinship caregivers and pursue state and federal funding available to foster youth.

Knox said Frio County currently lacks a county-level board dedicated to oversight and advocacy for children in the foster care system and asked the court to formalize a board that would coordinate with existing organizations and work to recruit local foster families. “We are the conservatorship for all the children once they have been removed from the home,” she said, describing the county’s role in permanency planning.

A Child Welfare Board, Knox said, would help close gaps in services the region faces — including limited local placement capacity, sparse child-specific mental-health services, and sparse supports for grandparents and other relatives who care for children. She said community-based care policies adopted by the state presume children remain in or near their home communities; Knox said Frio and neighboring rural counties currently send many children to Houston or other distant locations because there are no local group residential options.

Knox gave county-specific figures to illustrate the need. She said there were about 220 investigations of abuse and neglect in the county last year, roughly 90% classified as neglect; she said the county had 58 abuse cases and 12 trafficking-related cases in Pearsall. She also said there were 18 removals in the prior two months, about 60% of whom were placed with kinship caregivers and that roughly 30% of placements involve grandparents raising grandchildren.

The presenter described practical roles for a board: coordinating with CASA and other child-advocacy organizations, applying for funding streams reserved for counties with child welfare boards, recruiting and vetting local board members, supporting foster families and arranging small direct-assistance requests (for example, school headphones, graduation computers or clothing). Knox said prior boards in nearby counties have provided one-time supports such as $5,000 startup grants for youth transitioning out of care, though she told the court that a board can begin with a much smaller local allocation or with volunteer-led fundraising.

Knox said Restoring Hope and local nonprofit partners already assist children in Frio County and that a board would focus specifically on foster-care needs. She named several neighboring counties she covers — LaSalle, Atascosa, Wilson and Karnes — and said none of those counties has local group residential facilities available for children in custody.

Court members thanked Knox and indicated interest in placing the item on a future agenda for further discussion and possible action; no formal motion to establish a board was made during the meeting. Knox asked for Commissioner support to place a formal item on a future agenda so the court could consider establishing the board and potential seed funding.

Knox closed by noting April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and by offering to help recruit board members and pursue grants.