Medina County Texas Sheriff Randy Brown had some harsh criticisms of Texas Child Protection Services (CPS) this past week after they arrested a 58-year old man for sexually abusing 5 former foster care children.
The man, Miguel Briseno, had at various times taken care of up to 12 girls at one time, and a total of 180 girls had passed through his care according to a report by San Antonio Express-News.
This was not the first time foster parent Miguel Briseno allegedly ran into trouble with the law and was arrested on child sex abuse charges, according to Sheriff Brown.
Sheriff Brown told the San Antonio Express:
In April 2013, the Medina County Sheriff’s Office arrested him on a charge of solicitation to commit sexual assault of a child. The arrest came after one of Briseno’s foster children said he had sexually assaulted her in August 2012, when he no longer had a foster license.“It’s not a question about whether there are more, it’s just about how many.”
“Those girls were taken from some environment and then you have some jackass like him abusing these girls that already have troubles,” Brown said.
“I’m aggravated at the whole system. I’m aggravated at the company that placed these girls. It was a money-making deal, the way they were running those girls through there like livestock. It wasn’t about making a better world for them. They were making a profit off them.”
The San Antonio Express reports:
Texas CPS Worst in the U.S.?Briseno pleaded guilty in September 2015 to a reduced charge of attempted assault, a Class B misdemeanor. Brown said investigators and prosecutors had difficulty securing testimony against Briseno. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, though county officials couldn’t confirm how much time he was actually incarcerated.
All of Briseno’s reported victims were teenagers at the time of the alleged abuse. They’re now in their 20s. For investigators, the next step is to identify the dozens of remaining girls who were ever in Briseno’s care.
“We don’t know where they’re at,” Brown said.
“If you’ve stayed at that house, if you were a foster child [in Briseno’s care], please contact us,” he said. “Whether you feel something inappropriate happened or not, we’d still like to talk to you.”
Victims are asked to call 210-335-8477 if they have any information on Briseno’s alleged abuse.
In December of 2014 Health Impact News reported on the class action lawsuit filed against the State of Texas and their foster care program brought by the group Children’s Rights, a New York-based advocacy group. The group was representing 12,000 foster care children as the plaintiffs. See the original story here:
12,000 Children from Foster Care Sue State of Texas over Abuses
This lawsuit was an amended complaint of the original lawsuit filed against the State of Texas in 2011, which alleged “violations of the plaintiff children’s constitutional rights, including their right not to be harmed while in state custody and their right to familial association.” (Source.)
After legal proceedings that lasted about one year, where the State of Texas tried to get the case dismissed, U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack ruled against the State of Texas in December of 2015 stating that the foster care system named in the lawsuit was unconstitutional. In her 255 page ruling, Judge Jack stated:
Has anything changed in Texas?Texas’ PMC (Permanent Managing Conservatorship) children have been shuttled throughout a system where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication, and instability are the norm.
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