OCS 1.3: Child Abuse/Neglect Fatalities in Texas DFPS Custody, FY2016-FY2025

Fiscal years 2016 through 2025 data on child abuse and neglect fatalities for children in the legal conservatorship of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. The dataset includes cases investigated and confirmed by state investigative programs, though it does not include corrections made after the fiscal year ends. It is published by data.texas.gov to address specific sections of the Texas Family Code.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal trends in fatalities using the Fiscal Year column.
• Investigating demographic disparities by cross-referencing Race Ethnicity, Sex, and Age columns.
• Comparing fatality rates across different service programs using the Program and Region columns.
• Assessing the context of fatalities for children in foster care using the In Paid Foster Care Placement at Time of Death column.

Strengths

• Covers a defined 10-fiscal-year period from 2016 to 2025.
• Includes multiple demographic and administrative dimensions such as Age, County, Region, Race Ethnicity, and Sex.
• Data is structured for specific legislative reporting under Texas Family Code Section 264.017.

Limitations

• Fatality information does not include corrections or updates made to DFPS data after the fiscal year end.
• Row count is 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 on data.texas.gov.

Collection Method

Investigations and confirmations by Child Protective Investigations, Day Care Investigations, Residential Child Care Investigations, and Adult Protective Services.

Time Range

Fiscal Year 2016 to Fiscal Year 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-02-11 16:46:23; freshness should be verified.

Geography

State of Texas, United States.