I'm Stephanie Wolf with a brief look at the latest news in Texas politics and
policy from the Texas Tribune. The summer's sweltering heat has been brutal, even
by Texas standards. Scorching temperatures pose serious health risk, including heat exhaustion,
heat stroke, and death, but that hasn't kept nature lovers away from the
eighty nine state parks. In natural areas in Texas and Une State parks saw
about a million visitors in spite of record breaking temperatures. That's the third highest
number for the month of June since twenty sixteen. A number of those park
goers are likely flocking to areas with water features. That's according to Justin Rhodes,
a deputy director in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He told The
Texas Tribune that parks lacking water amenities might experience to dip, while places like
Galveston Island, which has beaches and water recreation, have seen increased visitation,
though park officials are offering a word of caution for visitors. Doug cochrane is
the superintended of Enchanted Rock State Natural Area in Central Texas. He told the
Tribune he's happy to see people enjoying the outdoors, but he wants them to
arrive well prepared, especially in extreme heat. Texas has seen heat related deaths
in state and national parks this summer, including a fourteen year old who died
while hiking in Big Bend National Park in one hundred and nineteen degree heat.
His stepfather died while trying to find help. To stay safe, officials recommend
bringing at least a quart of water per person, taking regular breaks in the
shade, and not hiking alone. Cochrane says hiking a chanted rock during the
summer can feel like stepping into an oven that's baking a peat. It's that
hot, so his best advice come in the spring or fall instead. The
state's Child Protective Services is failing its most vulnerable teens when they age out.
According to a report from The Imprint, the agency is doing little to help
adequately prepare foster youth with cognitive disabilities and mental health needs when they turn eighteen.
A whistleblower who works for CPS as a disability specialist, detailed her concerns
in a letter to state officials, including the governor, in June. She
wrote about an eighteen year old foster teen with a history of hospitalizations for mental
health issues being told to leave the facility the agency housed her at. The
worker helped the team find a bed in a homeless shelter and then a placement
for older youth, but she said she was reprimanded for the additional aid,
told by her boss that the eighteen year old quote needs to learn and the
letter. She said this situation was not an outlier and there is a pattern
of foster youth with cognitive and mental health needs being pushed out of the system
at eighteen with no resources to keep them safe going forward, even though many
states, including Texas, conserve foster youth until they turned twenty one. The
specialist confirmed the letter and the concerns laid out in it. With the Imprint,
a spokesperson for the Department of Family and Protective Services responded to some of
the allegations, saying the state has taken measures to improve care for older youth.
She cited things like privatization and service packages intended to match teens with needed
programs, but an investigation from the Imprint earlier this year found that the state
has a poor track record of getting foster youth aged eighteen to twenty connected with
the services they need, and many older Texas foster youth with behavioral and mental
health needs are housed and unlicensed, poorly supervised settings like hotels, offices,
and churches. We have a favor to ask, would you go to Texas
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Check for updates to any of the stories you heard in today's episode at Texas
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get your podcasts. I'm Stephanie Wolf with the Texas Tribune. You've been briefed.
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