(August 27, 2008)--A federal appeals court ruling forces Texas Child Protective Services to get either court orders or parental consent before removing allegedly abused children from their homes.
The ruling last month by a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affects child abuse investigations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
The ruling resulted from an ongoing lawsuit against the state of Texas filed by a Fort Bend County couple and their 13 children.
The court said state and local officials who removed the children during a child abuse investigation may have acted improperly, but were protected by government immunity.
The Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News obtained a memo sent on Friday to all Child Protective Services personnel written by the commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Carey Cockerell.
The memo says the court ruling will require "some extremely difficult decisions" to be made.