Policy

Key Initiatives

Foster Care Capacity

The number of children and youth sleeping in state offices has surged due to a shortage of appropriate placements in the foster care system. Texas needs to create more capacity in the foster care system so these kids can receive the full range of services and care they need.

TACFS members and staff will provide an in-depth look at the capacity shortage and possible solutions during a symposium on Thursday, July 29. While the in-person limit for the event has been reached, the symposium will be available to view online for anyone who wants a greater understanding of this challenge.

Leading up to the symposium, and because Gov. Greg Abbott has called on the Legislature to provide funding for additional provider capacity, it is worth considering a few key points about how we got here, whom this crisis affects, and how the state can begin to enact solutions. Learn more. 

 

  • Invest in prevention and family preservation services to serve families that need help such as mental health, substance use, domestic violence, and other parenting supports. Fund the full cost of care and fund incentives for organizations to maintain/build foster home capacity and improve the quality of care and services.

  • Update the foster care rate methodology to reflect the true needs of children and costs of quality foster care services.

  • Support services for children and families that have moved to permanency or adoption.

  • Appropriately fund implementation of Community Based Care – where the work is in much closer proximity to the families being served.

Family First Prevention Services Act

The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018 represents the most significant federal child welfare reform in over two decades. The provisions of the Family First Act are intended to prevent entries to foster care, reduce the use of group care placements in favor of family-like settings, and promote kinship care.

Prevention and Family Preservation Services

FFPSA establishes a strong federal emphasis on funding services to divert children at imminent risk of removal from entering foster care. FFPSA allows states to draw down Title IV-E funding for services for families of children at “imminent risk” of entering foster care. This includes substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, or in-home parent training. The federal funding available for prevention services under the Family First Act is restricted, however, to services designated by the federal government as evidence-based according a rigorous systematic review process for assessing research and assigning evidence ratings.

What's Next?

In the DFPS FFPSA Strategic Plan, the report highlights that there is opportunity for the state to expand services to families and keep kids safe at home — “DFPS has the opportunity to design a Texas-specific plan that allows our state to build on the positive momentum in the current system and to do so in a way that most benefits children and families in Texas.” However, under the current system, most services to families in this stage of care are free or low-cost community resources, resources may be limited based on availability or region. There are limited options for programs that can draw down IV-E funding under FFPSA.

Residential Services

Under FFPSA, there will be new requirements for which foster care placement types are eligible for federal funding. In order to encourage more placements in family-like settings and to address concerns about over-reliance on group residential care, the law creates a new setting called a qualified residential treatment program (QRTPs). Unless a group setting is designated a QRTP, the state will lose the federal funding match for the child after two weeks in that setting. To be a designated QRTP, the placement must be accredited, use a trauma-informed model, and have licensed or registered staff, be inclusive of the child’s family in planning and programming, and have a plan for after-care for at least six months upon a child’s discharge from the placement. Certain settings are excluded from this requirement, including: family foster homes; placements for pregnant or parenting youth; supervised independent living for youth 18+; Qualified Residential Treatment Programs (QRTP) for youth with treatment needs; specialized placements for victims of sex trafficking; and, family based residential treatment facility for substance abuse.

What's Next?

The state supports the goal of FFPSA for children to be in least-restrictive settings, and decrease the use of congregate care settings whenever possible. However, while FFPSA does not disallow any placements currently utilized in Texas, it does limit what is IV-E eligible. Per the strategic plan, the loss of IV-E eligibility is projected to cost approximately $26 million per year. It is unclear the cost of QRTP implementation at this time. At this time, a QRTP Pilot is underway, but it is unclear how many children will be served and if the state will continue to provide funding or a rate to grow this capacity.

Kinship Navigator Programs

Funding under the Family First Act can also be used to implement kinship navigator programs, which are meant to provide enhanced support for relative caregivers to meet the needs of children placed in their care.

Download our latest Family First Prevention Services Clearinghouse Matrix

Download

FFPSA Resources

Learn more about FFPSA policies, programming, and next steps.

Community Based Care

Texas has long relied on mission-driven community organizations to provide direct services and care for at-risk children and families.  In 2017, the Legislature affirmed the state’s direction by passing Senate Bill 11 which created Community Based Care (CBC). CBC transforms the way foster care services are provided in Texas. CBC transfers functions related to foster care services from the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS)  to a lead non-profit  organization and its network of community organizations. CBC involves local stakeholders, local caregivers, and local communities to engage and collaborate with one another to meet the unique needs of their community. CBC allows for innovative care by providing communities with the flexibility, authority, and adaptability to improve services for children and their families. 

CBC includes many of the services that Child Protective Services (CPS) normally provides. This includes foster care, case management, kinship, and reunification services.  The lead, nonprofit organization in each designated geographic area across Texas creates a network of services, foster homes, and other living arrangements and, when ready, provides case management for each child as well. CPS and the lead organization collaborate to carefully manage the transition from traditional foster care to CBC to ensure service and care of children and families is not disrupted. 

Region 1 - The Texas Panhandle

In January 2020, St. Francis Ministries launched placement services for Region 1, a 40 county areas that includes Lubbock, Amarillo, and the Texas Panhandle. St. Francis has served more than 31,000 children in Texas and other states, and has experience nationally in CBC.

Go to St. Francis

Region 2 - Texoma/Big Country

2INgage brings the best of two experienced community, nonprofit organizations to serve our most vulnerable children and families, and is honored to have been selected by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to provide case management and foster care placement and support services for children in the foster care system in Region 2 a 30 county area that includes Abilene and Wichita Falls. Texas DFPS Region 2 Resources

Go to 2Ingage

Region 3b - Fort Worth Area

Our Community. Our Kids (OCOK) is a division of ACH Child and Family Services, established in 2014 to begin providing Stage 1 CBC services in Region 3b, a seven-county area encompassing Tarrant County and Fort Worth. OCOK began providing Stage 2 case management services on March 2, 2020.

Go to OC-OK

Region 8b- San Antonio Area

On April 1, 2021, CPS awarded the Single Source Continuum Contract (SSCC) to BELONG, a division of SJRC Texas. SJRC Texas has been operating as a local key community provider in Region 8b for 37 years. SJRC Texas is accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA) and is known for quality services with a high standard for integrity, accountability, and innovation. BELONG is SJRC Texas' solution to the Community-Based Care service delivery model to abused and neglected children and youth by enacting systemic changes that improve safety, expedite permanency and focus on child and family well-being, normalcy, and stability, while simultaneously growing capacity for the Texas foster care system.

Go to SJRC Texas

Interviews with CBC Leaders in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

Interview with ACH Child and Family Ministries

Interview with 2Ingage

Saint Francis Ministries

Family Resource Centers

The Texas Center for Child & Family Studies (the Center) is partnering with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) division to sustainably implement a Family Resource Center Initiative with PEI selected grantees. Through training, technical assistance, and programmatic leadership, the Center seeks to advance PEI’s vision to grow FRC programming and practices that support families and communities to be strong, healthy, and successful reducing the likelihood of child maltreatment through research-based protective factors.

Learn More on Our Projects Page