The sun setting behind our neighborhood.
Tag: Texas
Travis Ranch HOA
Well, we’ve moved… in case you missed that bit of news.
We’ve moved to Travis Ranch in Forney, Texas (aka Kaufman County Municipal Utility District No. 6).
It’s a beautiful, growing neighborhood, that’s part of a 1,600-2000 (depending on which news article or website you’re looking at) acre master planned community.
The neighborhood offers several great amenities, including an inline skating hockey rink, a pool, splash park and several playgrounds.
There are also plans for retail development and a marina to be added at some point in the future — just haven’t found a good site for detailed information on those additions.
We’ve already enjoyed the pool a few times, as well as walking the “trail” along the main roadway. I’m sure all the amenities, including the neighborhood elementary school (which is less than .5 a mile from our home) will be even more beneficial once the twins arrive.
But me being nosy like I am, I’ve been trying to find out as much as I can about the HOA, the full plans for the development and the Municipal Utility District we’re a part of.
Continue reading Travis Ranch HOA
Churches in Kaufman County (and beyond)
As we’ve moved to the northwest corner of Kaufman County, the search has begun for a new community of faith to take part in.
Google has been helpful as we’ve begun our search, but I thought I’d make a listing of churches in Kaufman County and areas surrounding Forney (Sunnyvale, Heath, Rockwall, Talty, etc) similar to what I had in Ellis County.
If by chance I’ve left off any churches, feel free to drop me a note and I’ll be sure to add it ASAP.
Crandall churches:
Central Baptist
Church of Christ
Crandall United Methodist
First Baptist
First Community Church
The Lord’s House of Prayer
Maranatha Baptist
Cottonwood churches:
Gun Barrel churches:
Heartland churches:
Heartland First Baptist
Vista Church
Heath churches:
First Baptist
First Christian
First United Methodist
Freedom Chapel
Holy Trinity by the Lake
Lakeshore
Our Savior Lutheran
Forney churches:
Beacon Hill Baptist
Calvary Chapel Forney
c|Life
Covenant Generations
Crossroads Bible
Fellowship Baptist
First Baptist
First Presbyterian
First United Methodist
Forney Church of Christ
Lake Pointe Forney
Mustang Creek Community
New River
People’s Fellowship
Seven Oaks Fellowship
St. Martin of Tours
Thrive
Trinity Family
Water of Life Lutheran
Kaufman churches:
Country Bible
First Baptist
First Presbyterian
First United Methodist
Grace Fellowship
Kaufman Church of Christ
Kaufman County Christian Center
Kaufman County Cowboy Church (there’s no location info on their site – I’m assuming it’s in Kaufman)
Life Church
Oak Hill/Kaufman Foursquare
Southside Baptist
St. Ann
Trinity Southern Baptist
Wade Chapel AME
Mabank churches:
Cowboy Church
First Baptist
First United Methodist
Mabank Church of Christ
Prairieville Baptist
Sunnyvale churches:
Berean Baptist
Grace Fellowship
Higher Ground
Life Community Church
Long Creek Baptist
New Hope Church
New Covenant United Methodist
Sunnyvale First Baptist
Terrell churches:
College Mound United Methodist
Cornerstone Baptist
CrossPoint Community
Emmanuel Baptist
First Baptist
First Christian Church
First Presbyterian
First United Methodist
Greater McIntyre Chapel
Rafter J Cowboy Church
St. John the Apostle
Terrell Bible
Texas foster care statistics for 2009
In 2009, there were 27,422 children in foster care in the state of Texas.
Of those numbers, there were 5,442 children in Region 3 (North Texas)
In 2009, there were 6,510,210 children between the ages of birth to 18 in the state of Texas and 1,795,971 in the North Texas region.
Continue reading Texas foster care statistics for 2009
Texas child deaths increased sharply in 2009
280 Texas children died as the result of child abuse and neglect in 2009 — up more than 30% from 2008.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is still trying to figure out why.
According to one think tank, the reason is likely due to increased teen pregnancies and increased poverty — which seems very probable. But Texas DFPS isn’t convinced.
Another possible cause is case workers being overworked (the average caseworker in the North Texas region is 20 investigations per day) and a turnover rate of nearly 24%.
Just my uneducated assumption is that Texas DFPS is removing far less number of children from their homes over the past five years — it would seem that if you’re removing less children, either parents are doing a better job — or you’re going to end up with more fatalities.
In 2005, DFPS removed 17,428 children from their homes.
In 2009, they removed 12,107 children from their homes.
There may be other factors to this — but that would be the first place I would look.
Austin’s KUT has a report on the issue.
You can also read the full DFPS study online — or I’ll post some highlights tomorrow.
HT Funky Shapes for the photo
Texas foster care statistics
As of 2008, there were 31,058 children in foster care in the state of Texas.
(Texas Department of Family and Protective Services – DFPS)
Of those numbers, there are approximately 6,000 children in Region 3 (North Texas)
In FY 2007, the average number of children removed per month was 1,327. For fiscal year 2008, the average was 1,191 per month.
Continue reading Texas foster care statistics