New private company to overhaul Dallas’ foster care system

DALLAS – This month begins a massive overhaul of the foster care system in Dallas and seven surrounding counties.

FOX 4 spoke to a woman who leads a new private company that will be responsible for increasing the number of foster families in the region and ultimately reducing the amount of time children spend in foster care.

Liberty Hamilton told her story about her foster mom who used drugs to a Senate Select Committee in May 2022.

“She always left the pipes she smoked around her,” she said.

Now, Texas Family Initiative LLC has been awarded a contract to supervise foster families in Dallas and seven surrounding counties. The program is called Empower.

Linda Garcia is Senior Vice President.

“We hope that no child should sleep in the office,” she said.

Empower’s first goal is to hire and train foster parents to create more licensed foster families in the Dallas region so children can stay within 50 miles of their original homes.

Their first office in the area is in Irving and more offices are planned to open soon.

Empower will start placing children in foster families starting September 1st. Then, a year later, she will take over the business.

Kathleen Laval is the CEO of Dallas CASA. She says that while children’s social workers may change, the CASA volunteers working with them will not.

“We will apply all our resources and energy to ensure success,” she said.

Laval says one of Empower’s biggest challenges will be to create more foster families for children with high therapeutic needs.

As for hiring social workers next year, Empower will not be able to offer the state pension programs that social workers currently receive. But he will offer 401K.