The Texas Supreme Court tossed temporary injunctions Friday that halted child abuse investigations against parents who allowed their transgender kids to access puberty blockers and hormone therapy, in large part because the state has closed such inquiries into three families who sued and a fourth child is now an adult.
The court’s ruling did not determine whether providing such healthcare to kids constitutes child abuse, as Attorney General Ken Paxton concluded in a nonbinding legal opinion in 2022. The legal battle seeking to shield parents from such state investigations began before Texas banned doctors outright from providing puberty blockers and hormone therapies to kids for gender transitioning.
There was no immediate comment from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Four families and the organization PFLAG, Inc. had won temporary injunctions stopping DFPS from investigating reports of trans minors using puberty blockers and hormone therapy. While the agency’s appeal of the temporary injunctions were pending, DFPS officials permanently closed its investigations and a fourth child has now reached their 18th birthday. As such, the Texas Supreme Court ruled, there was no need to keep the temporary injunctions in place.
“There exists no credible, nonspeculative threat that DFPS will investigate these plaintiffs in the future based on the use of medical treatments for gender transitioning, either because DFPS has already ruled out these families for such an investigation or because the children’s having reached the age of majority deprives DFPS of authority to investigate.”
The case began four years ago shortly after Gov. Greg Abbott notified DFPS that the attorney general’s office had issued an opinion that concluded it is “against the law to subject Texas children to a wide variety of elective procedures for gender transitioning.” The governor’s letter directed the agency “to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures” in Texas. As a result the agency announced it would follow the law.
A week later, parents of a then 16-year-old child diagnosed with gender dysphoria and a psychologist who treats such children sued the Governor, the DFPS Commissioner, and DFPS in Travis County. A few months after that, three more families brought a similar suit. A Travis County trial court ultimately issued three separate orders temporarily enjoining DFPS and its commissioner from investigating allegations regarding children’s use of drugs for the purpose of gender transitioning.
Three of the families had their cases closed with no further investigation or action. The fourth child, that former 16-year-old, is now an adult and the agency can no longer investigate their case.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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