A Texas Child Protective Services employee has been fired after being secretly recorded telling a 14-year-old girl to prostitute herself after complaining that she was hungry.
The employee, who has not been publicly identified, told the child that she could "basically" make $1,500 a day selling her body for sex.
“If you gonna be a ho — be a real ho,” the case worker told the girl in the footage.
Keisha Bazley, the teenager’s mother, told Fox 26 that the CPS employee told her child that she used to sell her body to make ends meet.
"Because the worker had been telling her this is how you can make money, I used to do this, and you could do the same thing," Bazley said. "When I saw the video with the lady, like my soul left my body."
Bazley has a total of nine children and says she had called CPS for help with the 14-year-old due to behavioral problems.
Mike Schneider, the family’s attorney, told Fox 26 that they took the footage to a judge to attempt to get the girl out of the state's care after seeing the video.
During the hearing, Schneider says that the agency failed to acknowledge what happened with their employee.
"I think they're threatened by the fact that this video even exists," said Schneider. "They know about it. They apologized and the head of CPS has apologized about this. What they didn't do is tell the court dealing with this case that was going on Thursday, when they wanted to dismiss the case."
The child was living in a hotel, but has now been moved to a foster home.
"The fact that they didn't think it was relevant that their own agency is trying to prostitute a child, that's incredibly disingenuous, to have a hearing and not bring that to the court's attention."
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Spokesperson Melissa Lanford told Fox 26 that, "DFPS is aware of the video and has taken action. The person in the video – who was employed as CPS support staff - was dismissed from her position August 10.
"The safety and appropriateness with which children in care must be treated is our paramount concern. Nothing less will be tolerated," Lanford said.
The Daily Wire noted in their report that under Texas family law, compelling or encouraging children to engage in sexual conduct through trafficking and prostitution is a felony in the third degree.
