Travis County Child Protective Services Scrutinized Following Resignations In Dallas

AUSTIN, TX -- The fallout continues at Child Protective Services amid intense media scrutiny of its practices, with the resignations of two more top leaders at the agency tasked with protecting the state's children from abuse.

One of those resigning was Director of Field Operations Colleen McCall, who announced her resignation to employees in an email on Tuesday morning, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Her exit from the Dallas region comes in the wake of a botched child abuse case in her area of oversight in which a little girl was killed, the Statesman noted.

CPS operations in Travis County also are being scrutinized in the wake of high-profile cases that were blundered, the newspaper reports.

In Travis County, the number of backlogged cases has spiked, the paper reports. The culture at the agency is described as "toxic" and "abusive" by former and current employees, a dynamic that has emerged as a factor in child deaths across Texas, the newspaper reports.

McCall expressed pride of her CPS tenure in an email obtained by the Statesman, but added she's opted to devote more time to her family as the reason for her departure (her last day is May 19).

“However, the work is never easy and the demands on our time are great,” she wrote. “My family is calling me and I owe them some quality time after so many years of putting my CPS duties first."

The other top official to resign was assistant commissioner of residential child care licensing Paul Morris. In a Monday email, Morris wrote he was leaving to accept a consulting role.

“I also want you to know that it has been an honor and a privilege to work with such a dedicated team of professionals these last three years,” he wrote in the email. “You’ve taught me a great deal about Licensing and the critical role we have in reducing risk to children in care. The volume of work this team is able to accomplish with relatively small staff and resources is demonstrative of your unwavering dedication to our children.”

The high-profile resignations are the latest for the agency. Former CPS assistant commissioner Lisa Black recently resigned. She ran the Dallas region CPS operations retired last week after a Dallas Morning News report exposed problems there.

The Statesman has also taken a prominent role in uncovering ineptness at the agency, having produced a three-part series titled "Missed Signs, Fatal Consequences" in early 2015. Reporters scrutinized 779 child death reports by CPS from September 2009 to March 2014, finding nearly 400 cases of children dying of abuse or neglect even as CPS officials were aware they were in danger.

Last week, the series of reports won an "Innovation in Investigative Journalism" award from the prestigious non-profit Investigative Reporters and Editors journalism organization.