Thread by @weareoversight

Earlier this year, Gov. Abbott directed Texas officials to investigate cases of minors receiving gender-affirming medical care as child abuse.

We’ve uncovered records that shed light on the implementation and impact of the directive. #FoiaFriday THREAD 1/

Emails we obtained show Texas Dept. of Family & Protective Services leaders told staff not to communicate in writing about Gov. Abbott’s directive or the investigations, and that many staffers were concerned about the policy. 2/
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“​​If you get any intakes regarding this issue, please immediately CALL ME to staff; no emails or texts are allowed,” a supervisor with Child Protective Investigations wrote in a February email. 3/

“Staff need to be clear that as state employees their public/social media opinions must be neutral to non-existent,” a supervisor at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Service wrote. 4/

The agency also sought to prevent lower-level employees from handling the cases. “We need to ensure our high performing workers are assigned these cases because there will be a lot of eyes on them,” a regional director wrote. 5/

“Everyone you need to stay off social media with any opinions based on the following,” an official wrote about Abbott’s order. “We will be investigating these cases. This will get messy.” 6/

Our investigation continues. We recently asked the Texas Dept. of Family & Protective Services for records reflecting the number of cases it’s investigating as a result of the directive. 7/

And this week, we filed an amicus brief in @ACLU and @LambdaLegal’s lawsuit challenging Abbott’s directive. Records we obtained reveal that DFPS adopted new policies and procedures in response, and staff interpreted the changes as a new rule. /END
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