A Texas child protective services worker was fired this month after she was caught on video telling a 14-year-old girl she should consider sex work, state officials said Sunday.
The unidentified Texas Department of Family and Protective Services employee was dismissed after her conversation with the girl, who recorded the discussion while she was in foster care.
The video was first aired by KRIV-TV of Houston. The girl was being housed in a hotel before a foster family could be found. The video shows the girl asking the employee for food, then being encouraged by the employee to become a prostitute.
“The person in the video — who was employed as [child protective services] support staff — was dismissed from her position August 10,” agency spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said in a statement.
“The safety and appropriateness with which children in care must be treated is our paramount concern. Nothing less will be tolerated.”
The girl is still in foster care, Gonzales told NBC News on Monday.
The fired employee had two business days to challenge the termination, said Myko Gedutis, an organizing coordinator for the Texas State Employees Union.
The worker chose not to file that rebuttal, Gonzales said, and Gedutis refused to comment on her behalf.
Gedutis, however, did broadly blame the state for "warehousing kids in hotels," which has been an "unmitigated disaster on behalf of the agency."
