Their Kids Said They Were Trans. Then CPS Came Knocking.
Morgan Davis started this job because he wanted to protect kids.
The 52-year-old had been an investigator with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) for less than a year and had come out as a transgender man shortly before starting his new job. Then Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an order demanding the department investigate parents of medically transitioning transgender children for abuse.
A “number of so-called ‘sex change’ procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law,” Abbott declared in the February 2022Â letter, which he sent a week before the Republican gubernatorial primary. Because DFPS “is responsible for protecting children from abuse,” he continued, ” I hereby direct your agency to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the State of Texas.”
At first, the directive seemed hard to believe, especially since medical transition for minors—interventions such as puberty-blocking medication, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries—were legal in Texas. Texas legislators would eventually ban medical transition for minors, but that was more than a year in the future.
“Everybody thought this was a political stunt,” Davis says. Within a day, Davis’ department already had a case. According to Davis, it originated with a DFPS employee with a transgender child who was forced to report on her own family.
“The first thing I knew about the case was that it was a co-worker,” Davis says. “I just couldn’t believe it. Most of us get into [this line of work] because you wanted to be the protection that you didn’t have. And here we were.” Davis ended up investigating the family himself. “If somebody had to do it, I wanted it to be me,” he says, because “I really thought at the time I could protect the family—but also if there was any abuse that was happening, I would know.”
On the day of his home visit, Davis says, he tried to be as nonthreatening as possible. “I had my nicest bowtie on,” he says, “and I brought pastries, to try to make it look like I was just showing up for a visit.” But he was still self-conscious: He was an agent of the state, after all, one with the power to separate a family or keep it together in the name of child protection. “At the end of the day,” Davis says, “it doesn’t matter how trans or how nice [I was]. At the end of the day, I was an investigator.”
Accustomed to deeply dysfunctional families, often living in chaotic, poorly maintained homes, Davis was struck by how normal and harmonious this family seemed. To his relief, the family had consulted with lawyers. An attorney sat in on Davis’ interview with the child, a transgender girl around 15 years old. The family also refused to sign a form releasing their child’s medical records—a move that further protected them from state prying.
It was hard not to feel frustrated by the situation. Davis had found a functional, loving family whose only error—in the eyes of the state of Texas—was that the parents had sought and received controversial but legal treatments for their child.
Davis says the home visit concluded without incident and the case seemed like a “slam dunk.” But his supervisors told him he could not close the case, that it needed to be sent “up the food chain.”
“I called my buddy and I said, ‘I can’t make this stop. I’m not going to be able to make this stop,'” Davis says. “It sounds dramatic, but I really did: I walked in an investigator, and I walked out an activist.”
Since the state was investigating parents for legal behavior, lawsuits swiftly followed. One was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the LGBTQ+ group PFLAG and several families.
“Governor Abbott’s directive unduly interferes with the state Legislature’s sole authority to establish criminal offenses and penalties,” said the June 2022 petition in PFLAG v. Abbott. “The Abbott Letter outright claims that ‘a number of so-called “sex change” procedures constitute child abuse under existing Texas law,’ despite the fact that the Legislature has failed to pass” legislation to that effect.
It’s not clear exactly how many people DFPS investigated as a result of Abbott’s order. But six families ultimately joined two ACLU-backed lawsuits challenging the new policy.
The plaintiffs described nerve-racking home visits and investigations that dragged on despite turning up no evidence of abuse or neglect. One parent, identified as “Samantha Poe,” said Child Protective Services (CPS), a division of DFPS, continued investigating her family even after receiving a letter from her 13-year-old gender-questioning child’s psychiatrist confirming that the teenager, Whitley, was not receiving any medical transition treatments.
“Without my prior knowledge, a CPS investigator contacted a teacher at Whitley’s middle school to ask about Whitley,” Poe said in a written declaration submitted with the PFLAG v. Abbott lawsuit. “The teacher told me they were contacted and that they told the investigator Whitley is well cared for and Whitley’s every need is being met. They also shared that they told the investigator that they had called CPS about other students they suspected were suffering from abuse at home, but received no response.”
These probes were part of something much larger. During the last decade, a full-blown gender war has erupted in America. While much of the controversy relates to transgender adults, a particularly fraught element of the debate focuses on gender-dysphoric kids. The question of what exactly to do when children say they’re transgender should be dominated by rigorous science and parental judgment. Instead, it has been clouded by politics.
In recent years, state-run medical agencies in such countries as Sweden, Norway, and Great Britain have recommended restricting medical transitions for minors, arguing that the risks outweigh the potential benefits. Twenty-four U.S. states have passed laws banning gender transition treatments for minors, and two others—New Hampshire and Arizona—have banned surgical procedures while keeping other treatments legal. While doctors suspicious of these treatments stress
Article from Reason.com
The Reason Magazine website is a go-to destination for libertarians seeking cogent analysis, investigative reporting, and thought-provoking commentary. Championing the principles of individual freedom, limited government, and free markets, the site offers a diverse range of articles, videos, and podcasts that challenge conventional wisdom and advocate for libertarian solutions. Whether you’re interested in politics, culture, or technology, Reason provides a unique lens that prioritizes liberty and rational discourse. It’s an essential resource for those who value critical thinking and nuanced debate in the pursuit of a freer society.
