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).

This counts placement types, not unique children in substitute care. Children will be duplicated by moving from foster care to other substitute care or by relative to non-relative placements. For example, a child who spent a portion of the year with a relative, but the rest with a non-relative would be counted twice.

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. These children may be residing in substitute care or may be living with a parent, referred to as a return and monitor. 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 - a subset of substitute care that includes all children 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 dfps.state.tx.us for information on substitute care placements and all DFPS programs.

Recidivism is a measure of the APS clients with investigations closed in a particular fiscal year, who had a separate investigation opened in the same fiscal year.

To protect the identities of clients in counties with very small populations, data from counties with between 1 and 5 cases of Recidivism are displayed as "1-5", and no Recidivism % is provided. Additionally, these counties will be unavailable on the Ranking, Trends, and Gender Balance charts for fiscal years in which they have 5 or fewer cases of Recidivism.

APS may provide or arrange for emergency services to alleviate or prevent further abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation. APS works in partnership with other social service agencies to provide resources to vulnerable adults. These services may be provided through collaboration with other state agencies or community organizations. DFPS may use Purchased Client Services funds and may enter into contracts to provide services to clients. All other available resources must be used where feasible before purchased client services are initiated.

After the victim's immediate safety is assured and investigation is completed, APS may remain involved for a short period to stabilize a low-risk situation. In other cases, victims with more complex problems or deemed at moderate or high risk of further maltreatment or self-neglect may receive more intensive services or assistance for a longer period of time.

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

This chart counts perpetrators in completed investigations. 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 confirmed perpetrator on a completed investigation is an individual who is a confirmed perpetrator on at least one allegation with a disposition of reason to believe.

An alleged perpetrator on a completed investigation is an individual where all the allegations on which they were an alleged perpetrator have a disposition of ruled out, unable to complete or unable to determine.

A description of Alternative Response and how it differs from a traditional investigation and the definitions of the different dispositions in a traditional investigation are in the glossary.

FOOTNOTES
1. Each victim may have more than one perpetrator in an investigation.
2. Each perpetrator may have more than one victim.

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

Child Protective Investigations (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 CPS glossary.

At the end of a completed investigation, CPI assesses child safety, the risk of abuse or neglect in the foreseeable future, the ability of the family to reduce the risk without CPI intervention, the ability of CPI to provide needed services and other circumstances in the case to decide whether to provide ongoing services.

The Case Action Substitute Care includes investigations that resulted in at least one child (not necessarily all children in the home) being removed. Does not equal number of children removed.

Visit dfps.texas.gov for information on CPS Abuse/Neglect Investigations and all DFPS programs.

APS may provide non-purchased services or purchased services. The chart compares these two types of services.

Non-purchased services can include services provided directly by APS staff or services provided by other entities, including social casework, legal actions, or services provided by other government agencies or community organizations.

APS may purchase services for clients using Purchased Client Services (PCS) funds. Purchased services may include short-term shelter, food, medication, health services, financial help with rent or utilities, transportation, and minor home repair. All other available resources must be used where feasible before purchased client services are initiated.

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