CPS 3.2: Texas Children in Substitute Care by Placement Type, FY2016-2025

Texas data from the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) on children in state custody residing in substitute care placements. The dataset tracks counts by placement type, county, and region for each fiscal year from 2016 to 2025, with a snapshot taken on August 31. It is published by data.texas.gov and was last updated in February 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing trends in kinship versus foster care placements over time using Fiscal Year and Placement Type columns.
• Mapping the geographic distribution of children in substitute care across Texas counties using the County and Region columns.
• Comparing counts of children placed with relatives versus other placement types using the Placed with Relative and Type of Substitute Care columns.
• Tracking annual changes in the total population of children in state custody using the Children in Substitute Care on August 31 column.

Strengths

• Data covers a 10-year time range from fiscal year 2016 to 2025.
• Includes detailed breakdowns by county, region, and specific placement types (e.g., kinship, paid foster care).
• Published by the official Texas state data portal (data.texas.gov) with a recent update in 2026.

Limitations

• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), published via data.texas.gov.

Collection Method

Likely administrative data collected as part of state child welfare reporting.

Time Range

Fiscal years 2016 through 2025, with a snapshot date of August 31 for each year.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-02-11 19:51:20; freshness should be verified.

Geography

State of Texas, with breakdowns available by County and Region.