HOPE WINS Update

THE REFUGE VOLUNTARILY SUSPENDS LICENSE, HALTS CARE, UNTIL TEXAS DFPS CORRECTS MISSTEPS THAT PUT CHILD TRAFFICKING SURVIVORS AND STAFF AT RISK

AUSTIN, TX – September 13, 2023 — The Refuge Ranch, a state-of-the-art facility built by Texans to care for girls recovering from the nightmare of sex trafficking, today announced it has voluntarily suspended its license because an intractable regulatory climate and pattern of hostility rather than collaboration from the Texas Department of Family Protective Services have made it unsafe to fulfill its mission. At issue is the agency’s demand for The Refuge to remove armed security made necessary by DFPS carelessness. 

“It has become painfully clear that the Texas Department of Family Protective Services has, for whatever reason, lost its commitment to protect and treat the victims of sex trafficking in our state,” said Brooke Crowder, founder and CEO of The Refuge. “By releasing the previously protected address of our facility to the public then forbidding us from protecting our staff and the youth in our care from the traffickers who have used that information to harass and intimidate us, they have made it impossible to continue serving the girls who urgently need our care. Our hope is that while we suspend our license, we can have meaningful conversations with DFPS to find a logical solution to the severe security risks we face.”

Founded in 2013, The Refuge won acclaim for its innovative and community-based approaches to care, offering young survivors of sex trafficking and exploitation a safe place to heal, complete their education and build a future. With the support of donors from around Austin and across the state, The Refuge built a supportive community of care with skilled therapy, a charter school, medical clinic, and equestrian therapy for children overcoming the trauma of trafficking. 

Unfortunately, in March of 2022, an egregiously faulty DFPS investigation report that conflated two properly handled events triggered a series of misinformed actions starting with DFPS forcibly removing the residents from The Refuge’s therapeutic community and disregarding DFPS standard policy by suspending the organization’s license. The Refuge Ranch was closed for ten months while the organization fully cooperated with two special legislative committees and investigations by nine local, state, and federal agencies, ranging from the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) to the FBI. Ultimately, the initial report’s allegations that led to the license suspension were proven untrue. The state then reinstated The Refuge’s license in January of this year.

“The state’s inability to properly care for the survivors of trafficking has reached a crisis point, with the number of residential treatment facilities in Texas trending toward zero in the current climate of regulatory overreach and fear,” continued Crowder. “There is growing demand for specialized, comprehensive care for our state’s most at-risk youth. It is shameful that our state regulators continue to put up roadblocks to that care at a time when they should be seeking such assistance for our children. It is disheartening that DFPS is creating an untenable climate for those whose goal is to provide essential services to those in need and, after what we have observed, it is hard to take DFPS seriously when they claim they need more resources to care for vulnerable children.“

For more questions, please contact us at info@therefugedmst.org.