Photo: YouTube
The child's mother slammed the worker.
By Jonathan Alfano — Written on Aug 15, 2022
A Child Protective Services worker in Houston, Texas is coming under fire after a video was released of her appearing to tell a child to become a sex worker.
Keisha Bazley, a mother of nine kids, called on CPS to help with her daughter, who she said was running away and causing trouble at school.
However, the teenager soon warned her mother that the worker had been making inappropriate suggestions to her.
The Houston CPS worker allegedly told the teen to become a prostitute.
The teenager said that the worker was telling her to go into sex work, and captured a video of the incident.
Bazley’s daughter asks the worker for food, but she received a very unexpected response.
The worker tells the girl “if you’re gonna be a h-e, be a real h-e.”
Bazley immediately filed a complaint with CPS after seeing the video.
"If me, the parent, was to do something like this to my child, I would be bashed," Bazley told FOX26. "I would be called a horrible parent. I would lose my kids.
"This should not happen to girls in their care. It should not happen. it's unacceptable."
After receiving the complaint, CPS commissioner Jamie Masters came to Bazley’s home in Houston to personally apologize to her and her daughter. Melissa Lanford, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, also issued a statement to FOX26 regarding the situation.
"DFPS is aware of the video and has taken action,” Lanford said in the statement.
“The person in the video – who was employed as CPS support staff - was dismissed from her position August 10. The safety and appropriateness with which children in care must be treated is our paramount concern. Nothing less will be tolerated."
Family law attorney Mike Schneider told FOX26 that CPS would have good reason to take a child away from a parent who told their child to become a prostitute. He also said that this is the first time he has seen the CPS commissioner travel to apologize to someone.
"I've never seen that happen before where the commissioner of CPS comes in from Austin, just to apologize about something horrible that's been done to a child involved with CPS," Schneider said.
"It's bad enough if it's just one bad rogue worker. It concerns me that it may be bigger than that, and they need to make sure it's not just one person, and they've got to find a way to protect these kids."
Bazley’s daughter is reportedly among dozens of foster children living in hotels throughout Harris county. According to Community Impact, 395 children in Texas foster care do not have a suitable placement as of August 2021. In October 2019, there were just 32 children without such a placement.
DFPS is seeking over $80 million in additional funding as part of a state senate bill to address the crisis. The bill would allow the department to hire over 300 additional case workers, and help the children find appropriate housing.
“The importance of this funding cannot be overstated,” Lanford told Community Impact. “It is the difference between a real placement for these older children and continuing to live in a CPS office or hotel.”
Jonathan Alfano is a writer who focuses on news and entertainment topics. Follow him on Twitter to keep up with his content.