CHILD PROTECTION
Advocating for families to receive the support they need to keep children safe and out of foster care and for children in foster care to heal and thrive.
We envision a Texas in which:
Families receive the support they need to prevent abuse or neglect and keep their children safe.
More children — particularly those from communities overrepresented in the foster care system — are able to stay safely with their families rather than entering foster care.
Children who do enter foster care live in safe, nurturing homes with the support they need to heal and thrive.
FEATURED
One way the Legislature can safely divert kids away from the foster care system is by providing funding so more kids can live with grandparents or other informal “kinship” caregivers when they can no longer stay with their parents.
Child Protection FAQs
How many Texas children are in foster care and the CPS system?
In 2025, more than 17,000 Texas children were in foster care on any given day. About half were five years old or younger. Around 770 Texas teenagers aged out of foster care in 2025. During that year, the state conducted over 130,000 investigations of alleged child abuse and neglect.
How can Texas help children and families in foster care and the CPS system?
Texas should ensure children in foster care have a stable placement with a loving family, access to mental health services, and — if possible — an opportunity to safely reunite with their families. To help keep children safe with their families and out of foster care, Texas should improve access to mental health and parenting support when kids are at risk of entering foster care and provide legal representation to parents during CPS investigations.
What bills or funding did the Texas Legislature pass during the last legislative session to help children and families in foster care and the CPS system?
The Legislature moderately expanded the Texas Family First pilot program, an important step towards reducing the number of children who enter foster care because of their unmet mental health needs. Lawmakers also passed modest funding increases for children’s mental health and bills to support older youth in foster care. However, they failed to pass other critical proposals. Learn more.
Our work on Child Protection is led by Kate Murphy, our Director of Child Protection Policy. For more information, please contact her at kmurphy@txchildren.org.
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