This chart counts the number of children who exited from DFPS custody during the fiscal year, the average time to exit and the average number of placements while in DFPS legal responsibility. Children in DFPS custody are those for whom a court has appointed DFPS legal responsibility through temporary or permanent managing conservatorship or other court ordered legal basis. A child exits from DFPS custody when a court terminates DFPS legal responsibility or a youth turns 18.

Counties and regions are based on the outcome county.

A description of the different types of exits from DFPS legal responsibility is in the CPS Data Book glossary: https://www.dfps.texas.gov/About_DFPS/Data_Book/Child_Protective_Services/Resources/glossary.asp.

Visit dfps.texas.gov for information on all DFPS programs.

Types of Abuse, Neglect and Financial Exploitation

A single APS case can have more than one allegation.

Neglect is the failure to provide the protection, food, shelter, or care necessary to avoid emotional harm or physical injury. The alleged perpetrator of the neglect may be the victim or the victim's caregiver. There are three types of neglect allegations: Physical Neglect, Medical Neglect, and Mental Health Neglect.

Other allegation types include: Financial Exploitation, Physical Abuse, Emotional or Verbal Abuse, or Sexual Abuse.

The population totals do not match prior DFPS Data Books, printed or ontline. Past population estimates are adjusted based on the U.S. Census data as it becomes available. This is important to keep the data in line with current best practices, but will cause some past counts, such as Abuse/Neglect Victims per 1,000 Texas Children, to be recalculated.

Population Data Source - Population Estimates and Projections Program, Texas State Data Center, Office of the State Demographer and the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Current population estimates and projections for all years from 2014 to 2023 as of December 2023.

Visit dfps.state.tx.us for information on all DFPS programs.

APS investigates allegations of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation and provides protective services, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin to people who are:
• age 65 or older;
• age 18-64 with a mental, physical, or developmental disability that substantially impairs the ability to live independently or provide for their own self-care or protection; or
• emancipated minors with a mental, physical, or developmental disability that substantially impairs the ability to live independently or provide for their own self-care or protection.
APS clients do not have to meet financial eligibility requirements.

The population totals will not match previously printed DFPS Data Books. Past population estimates are adjusted based on the U.S. Census data as it becomes available. This is important to keep the data in line with current best practices, but may cause some past counts, such as Abuse/Neglect Victims per 1,000 Texas Population, to be recalculated.

Population Data Source - Population Estimates and Projections Program, Texas State Data Center, Office of the State Demographer and the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Current population estimates and projections for all years from 2010 to 2019 as of December 2019.

Children in the Custody of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS)- All children for whom DFPS legal responsibility through court ordered temporary or permanent managing conservatorship or other court ordered legal basis. These children may be residing in substitute care or may be living with a parent, referred to as a trial home visit. DFPS legal responsibility terminates when a court orders DFPS custody ended or a youth turns 18, whichever comes first.

Substitute care - all children who are living in a DFPS out of home placement. It does not include children in DFPS custody who are living with a parent on a return and monitor. Unless otherwise noted, it does include youth over 18 who are in extended foster care but are not in DFPS custody.

Kinship care- a subset of substitute care that includes all children in DFPS custody who are living with a legal or blood relative or other individual who has a significant relationship with the child or the child's family known as "fictive kin."

Foster care - all children in DFPS custody living in a placement that has been verified to provide 24-hour residential care for a child, in accordance with Chapter 42 of the Human Resources Code and related regulations. These placements include foster homes, including kinship care where the caregiver has been verified, general residential operations (GRO), emergency shelters, residential treatment centers (RTC), and juvenile facilities.

Paid foster care - a subset of foster care where DFPS is making foster care payments.

Visit https://www.dfps.texas.gov/ for information on substitute care placements and all DFPS programs

This dashboard includes those Foster and Adoptive homes that were screened and approved for child care through DFPS. Most of the FADs in the state are screened and approved for adoption through a private licensed child placing agency.

Adoptive home – A home which has been screened and approved for adoption through DFPS. The Adoptive Home counts do not include homes open only for receipt of adoption subsidy.

Foster-adoptive home – A home that has been approved to provide 24-hour residential care for a child, in accordance with Chapter 42 of the Human Resources Code and related regulations and that has been screened and approved have been approved for adoption through DFPS.

Foster home – A home that has been approved to provide 24-hour residential care for a child, in accordance with Chapter 42 of the Human Resources Code and related regulation.

Children in DFPS custody are those for whom a court has appointed DFPS legal responsibility through temporary or permanent managing conservatorship or other court ordered legal basis.

Child Protective Investigations (CPI) is authorized to investigate abuse and neglect allegedly committed by a person responsible for a child's care, custody or welfare and to protect abused and neglected children from further harm. This authorization is derived from the U.S. Social Securities Act, Texas Family Code, Human Resources Code, Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, Indian Child Welfare Act and the Adam Walsh Act.

CPI conducts either a traditional investigation or Alternative Response (AR). Both require CPI to assess safety and take needed actions to protect a child and assess the risk of future abuse or neglect in the foreseeable future. AR, however, allows for a more flexible, family engaging approach on lower priority cases involving alleged victims who are age 6 or older. AR differs from traditional investigations in that there is no substantiation of allegations, no entry of perpetrators into the Central Registry (a repository for reports of child abuse and neglect), and there a heightened focus on guiding the family to plan for safety in a way that works for them and therefore sustains the safety.

Completed investigations only include those cases conducted as a traditional investigation that were not administratively closed or merged into another stage. An investigation can only be administratively closed if all allegations have a disposition of administrative closure. A completed investigation can include more than one alleged victim. Completed investigations do not include any Alternative Response cases. A description of Alternative Response and how it differs from a traditional investigation is in the glossary.

FOOTNOTES
An investigation represents a report of abuse or neglect and can involve multiple children.

The data on completed investigations does not include investigative stages that were administratively closed or merged into another investigation.

All completed investigations have a case disposition and a risk finding.

Visit dfps.state.tx.us for information on Abuse/Neglect Investigations and all DFPS programs.

This chart counts the number of children in DFPS custody on August 31 of the fiscal year who meet all of the following criteria:
(1) a court has terminated all parental rights;
(2) the child has a plan of adoption; and
(3) the child is not in an adoptive placement.

The count includes both children who are in an intended to be permanent home and children who are not in an intended to be permanent home. Use the filter to isolate these counts.

Children in DFPS custody are those for whom a court has appointed DFPS legal responsibility through temporary or permanent managing conservatorship or other court ordered legal basis. An adoptive placement occurs when the child's caseworker, the family's case manager, and the adoptive family sign paperwork officially placing the child in the home for adoption. Before the paperwork can be signed, a child must be free for adoption (meaning a court has terminated parental rights), have a permanency goal of adoption and the family must have been approved for adoption through a licensed child placing agency.

Services provided to clients by DFPS may include social casework, case management, and arranging for psychiatric and health evaluation, home care, day care, social services, health care, respite services, and other services.

The APS specialist works with the client to develop a service plan to address identified problems. Safely maintaining clients in the least restrictive environment is a primary goal of APS intervention.

Protective services may be necessary to alleviate or prevent the client from returning to a state of abuse, neglect or financial exploitation. In this case, DFPS may also provide services to a family member or caretaker. (Texas Human Resources Code §48.002(a)(5) and §48.204) Protective services may be delivered in every stage of an investigation

The APS specialist makes all reasonable efforts to resolve problems, including root causes, and stabilizes the client’s condition. Full resolution of a client’s problems is always the goal of APS casework, but it is not always achievable. When full resolution is not a practical goal because of inadequate resources, client resistance, or some other impediment, the APS specialist closes the case when a client’s situation is as close to stable as possible.

The phrase "reasonable effort" implicitly recognizes that:
• personal choice on the part of the client may limit the effectiveness of APS intervention;
• resources available to APS for helping clients are limited; and
• APS cannot remedy all situations.

1. Counts for FY 2015 and subsequent years cannot be compared to those from prior Data Books, due to changes in the APS casework practice model. Cases with services provided during the investigation may not have a separate service stage.

2. Clients in validated cases may receive more than one service.

Visit dfps.state.tx.us for information on all DFPS programs

One of the following closure reasons are applied to the case:

Valid - Based on the standard of preponderance of the evidence, it is more likely than not that the abuse, neglect or financial exploitation occurred.

Valid - Progressed to Services - A valid investigation may be progressed into a service delivery stage. Beginning in FY2015, a valid investigation may be progressed into Intensive Case Services or Maintenance Services, based on risk level.

Services Provided in Investigation - When an alleged victim is experiencing abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation, APS may provide protective services during the investigation stage. Beginning FY 2015, services provided during the investigation are documented in the investigation stage and not as a separate service stage. If the alleged victim is at low or moderate risk of recidivism and the problem was resolved with services provided during the investigation, Maintenance or Intensive Case Services may not be required.

Invalid - Based on the standard of preponderance of the evidence, it is more likely than not that the abuse, neglect or financial exploitation did not occur.

Unable to Determine - A preponderance of the available evidence is insufficient to support a finding of Valid or Invalid.

Other - Refers to those investigations that workers could not complete, e.g. clients died or cases were misclassified.

Visit dfps.state.tx.us for information on all DFPS programs

CPI Intakes: Priority, Screening and Assignment

To establish timeframes for investigations, each report of child abuse and neglect is assigned a priority:

Priority I - Intake reports that concern children who appear to face an immediate risk of abuse or neglect that could result in death or serious harm. CPI must initiate the investigation within 24 hours of receiving a Priority I report.

Priority II - All reports of abuse or neglect that are not assigned as Priority I are assigned as Priority II. These are reports that contain allegations of abuse or neglect in which there does not appear to be an immediate threat of serious harm or death. A subset of these reports are sent down the Alternative Response (AR)* pathway. Those reports not sent to AR continue as a traditional investigation. CPI must initiate these investigations within 72 hours of receiving a Priority II report.

*In November 2014, CPI implemented Alternative Response (AR) which is a different way to respond to reports of abuse/neglect. AR allows for a more flexible, family engaging approach while still focusing on the safety of the children. AR cases differ from traditional investigations cases in that there will be no substantiation of allegations, no entry of perpetrators into the Central Registry (a repository for reports of child abuse and neglect), and there will be a heightened focus on guiding the family to plan for safety in a way that works for them and therefore sustains the safety.

This dashboard addresses Texas Family Code Section 264.017(b)(1).