Texas Judge Stops Child Abuse Investigations Into Families Of Trans Kids
September 20, 2022On Friday, a Texas judge expanded her order in an ongoing lawsuit, giving families of trans youth more protections against state child abuse investigations.
Judge Amy Clark Meachum's order is the latest in a lawsuit by LGBTQ+ advocates against Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the state's child welfare agency to halt current and future child-abuse investigations for children who have received gender-affirming care.
Friday's order “lengthens and strengthens” the judge's prior temporary restraining orders that blocked child abuse investigations for a fixed number of days, Stephen Sheppard, former dean of St. Mary's School of Law in San Antonio, Texas, told USA Today.
The injunction also shields Adam Briggle and Amber Briggle, who have a 14-year-old transgender son and two other families who are part of the lawsuit.
Meachum wrote that without the injunction, the families would “suffer probable, imminent, and irreparable injury in the interim.” A trial is set for June 2023.
Another family, in a different lawsuit, says their son was questioned for nearly an hour by Department of Family and Protective Services officials who came to his school in late August. A fifth Texas child whose parents are under investigation has not received any gender-affirming medical care, but is just “in midst of exploring what a social transition feels like.”
In May, the Texas Supreme Court allowed the state to investigate parents of trans youth for child abuse while also ruling in favor of one family who was among the first contacted by child welfare officials following a February directive by Abbott. That family is the plaintiff in a separate lawsuit, Doe v. Abbott.
The most recent lawsuit was brought by Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the families of three teenage boys – two 16-year-olds and a 14-year-old – and all members of PFLAG in Texas.
“Once again a Texas court has stepped in to say what we knew from the beginning: State leaders have no business interfering with life-saving care essential for transgender youth,” Adri Perez with the ACLU of Texas said in a statement.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said it had opened 12 investigations since Abbott's directive was issued. Only four remain open and no children have been removed from their homes as a result of the investigations, the department said.
The latest injunction follows rulings in other states against Republican-led efforts to restrict gender affirming care for children.
A federal appeals court panel last month ruled Arkansas can't enforce its law banning gender affirming care for minors, and the state plans to ask for the full appeals court to review that decision. A federal judge in May blocked a similar law in Alabama.
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