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Report: Texas DFPS fires employee for encouraging foster child to consider sex work

The DFPS commissioner apologized to the 14-year-old child and her mother.

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has fired an employee for encouraging a 14-year-old in the state's foster care system to consider sex work, according to a report from The Texas Tribune.

The Tribune reports that the child was being housed at a Harris County hotel awaiting placement. She was asking for food when the staff member proposed sex work. The child recorded the interaction in a video obtained by a Houston news station.

"The person in the video – who was employed as [Child Protective Services] support staff — was dismissed from her position August 10," Marissa Gonzales, a DFPS spokesperson, said in a statement to the Tribune. "The safety and appropriateness with which children in care must be treated is our paramount concern. Nothing less will be tolerated."

Gonzales told the Tribune that all employees are trained before supervising youth. DFPS Commissioner Jaime Masters has apologized to the child and her mother, according to the Tribune.

The identity of the fired CPS employee has not been made public.

To learn more, read the Tribune's full report.

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