Gov. Greg Abbott, with his wife Cecilia, left, at a primary election night event, on March 1 in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Eric Gay/Associated Press)

Randa Mulanax, an investigative supervisor with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, testified in court today (Friday, March 11) that child abuse investigations being ordered under Gov. Greg Abbott’s anti-trans directive are being held to a different standard that other investigations, according to a report by the Texas Tribune.

Mulanax said that not allowing investigators to discuss investigations with each other is “unethical.”

Her testimony came during a hearing in Judge Amy Meachum’s court to decide whether a temporary restraining order halting Department of Family and Protective Services’ investigation of a trans teen’s supportive family should be expanded to protect all such families in the state.

Mulanax, who said she has decided to resign from DFPS because of this directive, testified that investigators are prohibited from discussing cases with their colleagues through either text or email, and they are requires to investigate, even when there is no evidence of abuse.According to the Tribune, Mulanax said she is resigning because, “I’ve always felt that, at the end of the day, the department had children’s best interest at heart. I no longer feel that way.”

Meachum issued a temporary restraining order last week stopping DFPS’ investigation into the family who are plaintiffs in Doe v. Abbott, a lawsuit filed last week by ACLU of Texas and Lambda Legal on behalf of a DFPS employee, her husband, their transgender teen and a psychologist. Today’s hearing comes after the Texas Third Court of Appeals denied Attorney General Ken Paxton’s appeal of that ruling.

Meanwhile in Bastrop, real abuse has been happening

As Abbott and Paxton are trying to criminalize loving families of trans children, children in the state’s care have been trafficked and neglected, according to this Texas Tribune article and other reports.

Seven children, ranging in age from 11 to 17, were allegedly victimized again by nine perpetrators while in the custody of a facility contracted by the state to care of them after they were rescued from having been sex trafficked.

To make matters worse, the seven children were allegedly left at the facility for more than a month after the abuse was reported. An employee of The Refuge in Bastrop reported to state authorities on Jan. 24 that these children were being abused by other employees there. But the court and court monitors were not notified until this week.

The Texas Tribune reports that DFPS Associate Commissioner for Child Protective Investigation Rich Richman told Judge Jack that the children were not immediately removed from the facility because they through that the employee responsible for abusing them had been fired. “However,” the Tribune continued, “several staff members were found to be allegedly responsible for the abuse of the children, some of whom were not immediately removed.”

Officials now believe the facility’s residential care director knew the children were being sexually abused.

The employee reporting the abuse said a former staff member sold nude photos of two of the seven children, using the money to buy drugs and alcohol, which were then given to the children, according to a letter that DFPS filed with the court on Thursday — the first time the court had heard of it.

When Judge Janis Jack asked during a court hearing Thursday if Abbott had seen the letter, no one answered her.

Once reports of the situation became public, though, Abbott declared  the “reports of child sex trafficking at The Refuge in Bastrop are abhorrent. Child abuse of any kind won’t be tolerated in the state of Texas, and we are committed to ensuring these despicable perpetrators are brought to justice and punished to the full extent of the law.”

— Tammye Nash