I-Team: Parents on the hook for kids playing hooky

HOUSTON -- In Houston's East End, Lieutenant Moises Davila's beat is bigger than burglars and break-ins. He's patrolling his community's future—one door knock at a time.

"Try to get them into class," Lt. Davila told one parent.

"They're skipping a lot of school," he said.

But the truancy officer, a Precinct Six Deputy Constable contracted by the Houston Independent School District, is not just targeting kids who cut class. He's after mom and dad too.

"We don't want them to file any court order," Lt. Davila told a mother at her door.

During that home visit, the parent got off with a warning. But the stakes are much higher than that.

"It's a rude awakening, they need to know what the consequences are," Lt. Davila said.

Related video: How Houston officials are fighting truancy

They are criminal consequences. The parent is on the hook, charged with a Class C misdemeanor, for contributing to their child not attending school. Ten unexcused absences during a six month period and you're called into court.

"The fines are punishable up to 500 dollars," said Harris County Justice of the Peace Court Judge Hilary Green.

The I-Team found fines and court fees are adding up. Nearly 28 thousand parents charged have paid out almost $1.4 million over the past two years.

But not without brush back from moms like Felicia Howard.

"I think it's ridiculous," Howard said.

"I'm a single parent with no money, I don't have money to pay court costs and fines," she said.

Elizabeth James felt the same way.

James: "I had to pay 200 dollars out of my pocket."

I-Team: "Do you have 200 dollars to blow?"

James: "No, no I do not."

But money is not the drive, said Harris County Justice of the Peace Court Judge Russ Ridgway.

Judge Ridgway: "If they do everything right they owe the court no money."

I-Team: "So this is not one strike and you're out."

Judge Ridgway: "No, absolutely not."

Judge Ridgway says parents and students are usually given a second chance, to shape up, before imposing fines.

"There's a different direction they can go, and that direction is really positive," Judge Ridgway said.

Still, there is a movement underway at the state capitol to decriminalize truancy and return to the days of making it a matter of student discipline.

"This should not be a crime," said Derek Cohen, of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

"A child who is involved in the criminal justice system, especially if it is a low-risk kid, has nothing, has nowhere to go but down," Cohen said.

Cohen said Texas is one of only two states in the nation to criminalize truancy, and he hopes that will change in the next legislative session.

But without the harsh wake-up call the current law provides, those on the beat of our kids' future say there will be more, not less trouble.

"We'll really have more kids walking the streets, more robberies, more vehicle break-ins, more thefts," Lt. Davila said.

More crime, and less outreach—to get on the right track.

"There is hope for kids here, we just have to show them the way," Lt. Davila said.

The TRIAD Prevention Program is one group trying to do just that. It is a consortium of three county agencies working together to coordinate resources to serve youth at-risk. Click here for more information on the services it provides.