Texas House Speaker Joe Straus named nine legislators in May to the House Select Committee on Child Protection and appointed three public members, including University of Texas School of Law Clinical Professor F. Scott McCown, to the Protect Our Kids Commission.
The select committee will work in concert with the Protect our Kids Commission to study the incidence of abuse and neglect fatalities in Texas and make recommendations to protect children, according to a news release from the Texas House of Representatives.
“Working to safeguard children in Texas has and continues to be my highest priority in the Legislature,” said Representative Dawnna Dukes (Austin). “I firmly believe that the creation of the Protect Our Kids Commission and the House Select Committee on Child Protection sends a strong signal of our commitment to addressing this critical issue.”
Rep. Dukes will chair the committee. Its membership will include Reps. Cindy Burkett (Sunnyvale), Tony Dale (Cedar Park), Jessica Farrar (Houston), James Frank (Wichita Falls), John Frullo (Lubbock), Bobby Guerra (Mission), Toni Rose (Dallas), and J.D. Sheffield (Gatesville). Nancy Kellogg, F. Scott McCown and Julie Evans are Speaker Straus’ public appointees to the Protect Our Kids Commission.
McCown is director of the Children’s Rights Clinic at Texas Law. From 1989 to 2002, he served as a State District Judge, hearing a broad range of civil cases and presiding by special assignment over a child protection docket. McCown is the former executive director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a member of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and has received numerous awards for his advocacy on behalf of children.