An employee of Child Protective Services (CPS) has been fired after allegedly advising a 14-year-old girl to be a prostitute.
Keisha Bazley, the young girl’s mother, told FOX 26 Houston that her daughter was running away from home and having problems at school, prompting her to call family services.
Bazley said her daughter told her the CPS worker had been telling her to do “these things,” and she decided to film her.
“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.
The attorney for the family, Mike Schneider, said that the CPS worker almost threatened the young girl that her meets wouldn’t be met if she didn’t do what she was told.
“And giving her an incentive to do so, and almost a threat of not having her needs being met,” Schneider said. “If she didn’t do what this woman very explicitly told her to do.”
Bazley reiterated that if she were to have said or suggested to her daughter what the CPS worker did, she wouldn’t have custody of her children.
“If me, the parent, was to do something like this to my child, I would be bashed,” Bazley said. “I would be called a horrible parent. I would lose my kids.”
View this post on Instagram
Schneider said that he had never heard of the commissioner of CPS personally apologizing to a child or their parents.
“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 to FOX 26 Houston, The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) spokesperson Melissa Lanford said they are aware of the video, and the CPS worker was fired.
“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 statement read. “The safety and appropriateness with which children in care must be treated is our paramount concern. Nothing less will be tolerated.”
