Sandy MaloneHouston, TX – The commissioner of Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) flew to Houston to apologize in person after a CPS worker told a 14-year-old girl in state’s custody to become a prostitute to make money (video below).
Keisha Bazley told KRIV that she is the mother of nine children, and she had turned to the state for help after her 14-year-old daughter started running away and causing trouble at school.
CPS took custody of the girl and housed the 14 year old at a hotel in Harris County along with dozens of other foster children.
Bazley’s daughter filmed a cell phone video of what happened when she told the CPS worker who came to check on her that she was hungry, KRIV reported.
The CPS worker allegedly told the teen that she should become a prostitute and that could use the hotel room she was living in and earn up to $1,500 a day by selling herself, according to the family’s attorney, Mike Schneider.
“And giving her an incentive to do so, and almost a threat of not having her needs being met, if she didn’t do what this woman very explicitly told her to do,” Schneider said.
Bazley’s daughter played the video for her mother and her mother filed a formal complaint with CPS, KRIV reported.
“My daughter told me that the worker had been telling her she should do these things, so she said she decided to video her,” Bazley said.
The mother was outraged when she saw it, KRIV reported.
“This should not happen to girls in their care,” she said. “It should not happen. it’s unacceptable.”
“If me, the parent, was to do something like this to my child, I would be bashed,” Bazley said. “I would be called a horrible parent. I would lose my kids.”
CPS Commissioner Jamie Masters went to Houston and met with Bazley and her 14-year-old daughter and apologized to them in person, KRIV reported.
“I’ve never seen that happen before where the commissioner of CPS comes in from Austin, just to apologize about something horrible that’s been done to a child involved with CPS,” Schneider said. “It’s bad enough if it’s just one bad rogue worker. It concerns me that it may be bigger than that, and they need to make sure it’s not just one person, and they’ve got to find a way to protect these kids.”
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) released a statement that said the CPS worker in the video had been fired, KRIV reported.
“DFPS is aware of the video and has taken action,” DFPS spokeswoman Melissa Lanford said in a statement. “The person in the video – who was employed as CPS support staff – was dismissed from her position August 10. The safety and appropriateness with which children in care must be treated is our paramount concern. Nothing less will be tolerated.”
Watch the incident unfold in the video below:
Holly Matkin
