Child Protective Investigations (CPI) conducts either a traditional investigation or Alternative Response (AR). Traditional investigations and Alternative Response require caseworkers to assess safety and take needed actions to protect a child while assessing any risk of abuse or neglect in the foreseeable future. AR cases present a less adversarial more collaborative approach to working with families by allowing for family engagement along with other community supports to ensure child safety. AR differs from traditional investigations in that AR cases are Priority 2 cases involving victims who are age 6 or older, 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 is 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. Investigations may include more than one alleged victim.

All allegations in a completed investigation are given one of the following dispositions:
Reason to Believe (RTB) - defined in section 2281.2 of the CPS policy handbook
Ruled Out (RO) - defined in section 2281.3 of CPS policy handbook
Unable to Complete (UTC) - defined in section 2281.4 of CPS policy handbook
Unable to Determine (UTD) - defined in section 2281.4 of CPS policy handbook

If at least one allegation has an RTB disposition, the investigation is given an overall disposition of RTB. If there are no allegations with an RTB disposition but there is at least one allegation with a disposition of UTD, the investigation is given an overall disposition of UTD.

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

This chart counts victims 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 stages.

A confirmed victim on a completed investigation is a child who is a victim on at least one allegation with a disposition of reason to believe.

An unconfirmed victim on a completed investigation is a child who was an alleged victim on at least one allegation with a disposition of unable to complete, unable to determine or ruled out.

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.

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

Recidivism is calculated as a percentage of all alleged victims and child principals in alternative response and investigation stages, who did not receive any ongoing services, who had a subsequent confirmed allegation, or case open for ongoing services within 12 months.

Numerator: Number of children who have a confirmed allegation in an investigation or an open family preservation or substitute care stage within 12 months of a closed investigation or alternative response stage with no ongoing services.

Denominator: Number of alleged and confirmed victims in investigations (excluding admin closures) and alternative response stages closed 12 months prior with no ongoing services.

Adults age 65 or older are automatically eligible for APS services based on their age. An adult age 18 to 64 old must be substantially impaired to be eligible for APS services.

Substantial impairment is defined as: "When a disability grossly and chronically diminishes an adult’s physical or mental ability to live independently or provide self-care as determined through observation, diagnosis, evaluation, or assessment." (Texas Human Resources Code §48.002(a)(8); 40 Texas Administrative Code §705.1001)

Assessment of a mental, physical, or developmental disability as indicated by one of the following:
• A medical condition
• Professional diagnosis
• Reported or observed behavior that is consistent with such a diagnosis. The disability must cause a long-lasting and considerable inability to live independently or provide self-care.

The population totals do not match prior DFPS Data Books, printed or online. 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.

The injuries that led to the child's death may have been sustained prior to DFPS being granted to legal custody. For example, in Fiscal Year 2016 six children died while in DFPS Conservatorship (five while in Foster Care). However, four of these children sustained the injuries that led to their death prior to being placed in DFPS custody.

This chart includes child fatalities investigated and confirmed by Child Protective Investigations, Day Care Investigations, and Residential Child Care Investigations, and Adult Protective Services. Fatality information does not include corrections or updates, if any, that may subsequently be made to DFPS data after fiscal year end.

Only Children in DFPS Legal Responsibility (Conservatorship) are included. You can further filter to see how many were in Foster Care at the time of death.

The Adult Protective Provider Investigations division was tranferred to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) in Fiscal Year 2018.

This dashboard addresses Texas Family Code Section 264.017, Subsection (b) (4) and (5).

This chart counts victims 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 stages.

A confirmed victim on a completed investigation is a child who is a victim on at least one allegation with a disposition of reason to believe.

An unconfirmed victim on a completed investigation is a child who was an alleged victim on at least one allegation with a disposition of unable to complete, unable to determine or ruled out.

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.

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

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.

The principal governing legislation for CPI investigations is Chapter 261 of the Texas Family Code (TFC).

The TFC definitions* of abuse or neglect investigated by CPI are:
Physical Abuse - Physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from physical injury to the child.

Sexual Abuse - Sexual conduct harmful to a child’s mental, emotional, or physical welfare.

Emotional Abuse - Mental or emotional injury to a child that results in an observable and material impairment in the child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning.

Neglectful Supervision - Placing the child in or failing to remove the child from a situation that a reasonable person would realize requires judgment or actions beyond the child’s level of maturity, physical condition, or mental abilities that results in bodily injury or a substantial risk of immediate harm to the child.

Medical Neglect - Failing to seek, obtain, or follow through with medical care for a child, with the failure resulting in or presenting a substantial risk of death, disfigurement, or bodily injury or with the failure resulting in an observable and material impairment to the growth, development, or functioning of the child.

Physical Neglect - Failure to provide the child with food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life or health of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by financial inability unless relief services had been offered and refused.

Refusal to Assume Parental Responsibility - Failure by the person responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to return to the child’s home without arranging for the necessary care for the child.

Abandonment - The leaving of a child in a situation where the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of physical or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for the child.
*See the full definitions in the CPS Glossary.

Victims have been unduplicated by investigation stage.

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

ABOUT THIS CHART
Allegation Disposition (Findings) Codes:

Valid. Based on the standard of preponderance of the evidence, it is more likely than not that the maltreatment occurred.

Invalid. Based on the standard of preponderance of the evidence, it is more likely than not that the maltreatment did not occur.

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

Other. The allegation disposition Other is used when an investigation of the allegation was not completed for some reason, e.g. clients died or cases were misclassified.

1. Family Violence is indicated when a validated investigation has a relative perpetrator, excluding those where financial exploitation is the only confirmed allegation.

2. Beginning in Fiscal Year 2015, services provided during the investigation are documented in the investigation stage and not in a separate service stage.

3. The "Other" Disposition category refers to those investigations that workers could not complete, e.g. clients died or cases were misclassified.

4. The population totals do not match prior DFPS Data Books, printed or online. 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.

Recidivism is calculated as a percentage of all alleged perpetrators in abuse/neglect investigations closed without services who were a confirmed perpetrator within 12 months after the prior investigation was closed without services.

Calculating this way, for example, the Fiscal Year 2019 rate reflects recidivism of alleged perpetrators in investigations closed without services in Fiscal Year 2018, the Fiscal Year 2018 rate reflects recidivism among alleged perpetrators in investigations closed without services in 2017, and so on.