| About
Us Who we are
Founded in 1978 the Texas Council of Child Welfare Boards’
mission is to support a statewide network of volunteers concerned
with the welfare of children, especially those suffering from abuse
and neglect. Our 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is led by a board
of directors representing 11 regional councils and over 200 county
child welfare boards.
What we do
Through coordinated training, communication, and advocacy, TCCWB
seeks to strengthen the efforts of more than 2000 volunteers appointed
by county commissioners’ courts to work in cooperation with
state agency staff who deliver the Child Protective Services program
at the grass-roots level. County boards contribute 20-30 million
dollars annually to meet children’s needs that cannot be met
by the limited state funding of the Texas Department of Family and
Protective Services. Members advocate at the local, state and national
level for children who have no voice.
TCCWB works with DFPS and others to develop resources, programs
and strategies to enhance services to vulnerable children and families.
Leaders from the regional councils come together in the capital
three to four times yearly with DFPS staff for educational programs
and to share information and strategies to provide for the safety
and well being of children. Financial support is provided by DFPS,
private donations, grants, and fundraising activities.
Accomplishments
Significant accomplishments include statewide training conference
for volunteers and CPS staff, county board orientation resource
manual, e-newsletters and a Web site as well as promotional activities
for nationally recognized months for child abuse prevention, foster
care and adoption. A highlight is our annual awards event honoring
outstanding volunteers and other champions for children including
a special recognition of youth in foster care for exemplary achievement.
A license plate project is in progress to promote public concern
for children and enhance funding for local boards to provide for
the needs of children in substitute care. Past achievements include
development of a parenting newsletter distributed through the state
health agency, promotion of jury fee donations to county child welfare
boards for children’s needs and successful support for tuition
waivers to state supported colleges for foster youth.
Partnerships
Collaboration with state agencies and other nonprofits is an effective
use of financial and human resources in our mutual efforts for children.
Greater Texas Community Partners and the Texas Foster Families Association
are represented at TCCWB meetings, and TCCWB liaisons attend meetings
of other groups. We co-sponsored a training conference with Greater Texas Community Partners in October 2007, attracting 200 volunteers and professionals from around the state. Plans are underway to continue this collaboration
with another conference in October 2008.
History of Child Welfare Boards
Child protective laws and services have roots in English Common
Law beginning with the Orphan’s Court of Medieval England.
The Apprenticeship Law was passed in 1848 followed by the Juvenile
Dependency and Neglect Act enacted in 1907.
In response to the Great Depression, Texas created the Division
of Child Welfare Services under the State Board of Control in 1931.
This law allowed county commissioners’ courts to appoint boards
of seven to 15 persons to coordinate community services for the
protection of children. The boards often provided services themselves
with consultation and supervision from a small group of professional
staff.
In the following decades federal, state and county participation
in services to abused and neglected children increased. In 1965
Texas authorized the Department of Public Welfare in response to
the Social Security Act’s requirements for federal funds,
and the state legislature appropriated funds for foster care services
in 1979. Today CPS is a state-administered program under the Health
and Human Services Commission’s Department of Family and Protective
Services; however, counties also provide some level of funding for
foster children’s needs through the development of child welfare
boards. Regional councils originated in 1976. An organizational
meeting was held in Austin in 1977, and the Texas Council of Child
Welfare Boards began operating in 1978.
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