Foster care in West Texas prepares for community-based care transition

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - Foster care organizations, school representatives, court representatives and all the people involved with foster care in West Texas came together today to discuss implementing community-based care.

“Prior to community based care we’ve run a statewide system of 254 counties at a state level. This is different because it allows a private non-profit to be a lead agency and work in the community to make sure the critical services are in place,” said Director of the Office of Community Based Care Transition George Cannata.

Cannata helped lead the first informational session to help them prepare for this transition.

Executive Director of Casa West Texas Patty Pisklak says this is a huge shift for the child welfare system. It’s a big deal to the families they serve and children.

“It requires a lot of the community to come together to provide the services for those children. The hope is that it will keep children closer to home,” said Pisklak.

West Texas is currently up for bid for this transition, their goal is to fill the gaps our system currently faces with the community’s help.

“More employees, a variety of different services like therapeutic services. We don’t have a residential treatment center in this area and those are generally where older youth may go if they’re having major behavioral issues or things like that,” said Pisklak.

Cannata says this is a conversation they all need to keep having.

“As this rolls out across the state more questions come up. How is this gonna affect my community? So these conversations are important to have over and over again and it gets more people excited about being a part of the work,” said Cannata.

Pisklak says this is important because children and their families are important in need of their love and support.