An Illinois Department of Family and Children Services risk analysis program designed to predict the death or injury of a child has been discontinued because of its wildly inaccurate results. It actually presumed that 369 children under the age of nine had a 100% chance of death or injury, and assigned a low chance to some high profile cases of death and injury.

While this idea of predicting abuse and neglect seems to be gaining popularity in many circles, it is eerily reminiscent of the 2002 movie “Minority Report,” which was about a police unit that arrested people before they committed the crime of murder.

We’ve written before about Texas HB 1549 by Rep. Cindy Burkett in the last legislative session that would essentially have enabled Child Protective Services (CPS) to invade the home of any family in Texas without evidence, as long as CPS had labelled that home to be at risk of abuse or neglect. Specifically mentioned in the list of risk factors was a family’s income level.

Low-income and single-parent families could have been unjustly targeted simply because of their circumstances—and unlike the Illinois program, these at-risk families were not children or families that were already in the CPS system due to a prior incident!

This was clearly profiling of innocent families without any basis with fact of abuse or neglect. HB 1549 was killed by legislators, but not without a very strong effort by Burkett to revive the bill in a conference committee.

Burkett is now running for Texas Senate in District 2 against conservative and homeschool-stalwart Bob Hall. If Burkett wins, it will be a tragedy for families and homeschoolers in Texas. The choice in this race could not be more clear: a big government moderate who supports CPS profiling families versus a strong conservative and supporter of families.

Go here to support Sen. Bob Hall in his re-election efforts! Supporting conservative, family-friendly candidates is an essential way to assist THSC in Keeping Texas Families Free!