Governor Greg Abbott Sends Help for Foster Kids

Governor Greg Abbott gets one right.

The governor has approved $8 million for a program that will attempt to help foster kids that are classified as "high risk."

The problem has been that some kids have to go to facilities that were a little bit more extreme than they needed just to have a place to go at all. This program will work on transitioning the kids out of psychiatric hospitals and the like into more normal, family-type settings.

This is smart thinking of the kind we usually don't see in government (sorry, but you know it's true). This small investment, which doesn't cost any tax dollars, could lead these kids into integrating back into society and/or at least being less of a risk to possible foster families. It's a simple concept: Spend a dime now to save many dollars later on.

Without getting too touchy here, we've all heard of parents threatening to lock their kids up or send them to the mental hospital if they 'don't straighten up.' Well sadly, in some cases, this has actually happened. It's these type of kids that were hospitalized in the last year, or kids that have been sent to two or more residential centers, that will be targeted by the program.

Once again, this program doesn't require a new tax revenue stream; it will be paid out of the federal "victims of crimes" act.