Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) his state糖心传媒檚 Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to consider gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender youth and children a form of child abuse under state law. The new law now legally requires doctors, nurses, and teachers to report to DFPS parents who help their child in receiving such care.
糖心传媒淔or trans children and families, their very existence is at stake. Investigations may result in child removal and placement outside the home, as well as denial of essential medical care,糖心传媒� writes聽, the 糖心传媒糖心传媒檚 Charles E. and Dale L. Phelps Professor in Public Policy and Health and a professor of history, in a聽聽published in the 糖心传媒淢ade by History糖心传媒� section.
糖心传媒淓xploiting broad legal statutes to criminalize, punish and break up families of disfavored and disempowered groups has a long history,糖心传媒� argues Raz, who is also a physician at the University糖心传媒檚 Strong Memorial Hospital. 糖心传媒淪ystems of child protection have often been deployed in ways that harm the very ones they have been charged to safeguard.糖心传媒�
Added requirements to the 1974 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act include overly vague definitions of child abuse, such as 糖心传媒渆motional neglect糖心传媒� or 糖心传媒渕ental injury.糖心传媒� By the late 1970s, child welfare researchers across the political spectrum cautioned that these definitions should be narrowed. 糖心传媒淵et politicians made the opposite choice,糖心传媒� writes Raz.
Meanwhile, public condemnation of the new Texas directive has been swift, including from the . Already, a leading pediatric hospital, Texas Children糖心传媒檚 Hospital in Houston, has 聽providing gender-affirming care to shield employees and patients from possible legal ramifications. 糖心传媒淭here are real consequences to these policies,糖心传媒� Raz notes.
The author of What糖心传媒檚 Wrong with the Poor? Psychiatry, Race, and the War on Poverty (University of North Carolina Press, 2013) and Abusive Policies: How the American Child Welfare System Lost Its Way (University of North Carolina Press, 2020), Raz is an expert on the history of US poverty and child abuse policies over the last half century.
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