According to a state record, Texas needs more transparency in the spending of foster care.

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A new state record reveals that Texas can be more open about how much money it spends to partially house foster children and how much money its private companies are spending to provide foster attention to the other half of the state.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services could improve economic monitoring in those two areas, according to the country’s Parliamentary Budget Board’s 2026 Strategic Fiscal Review, without making any claims that it was misusing state funds. Without thorough spend data, the LBB suggested that it would be more difficult for lawmakers to determine whether the spending was justified.

The state’s efforts to privatize foster care are expected to be a significant target for lawmakers next year, especially now that the state has fired its largest foster care provider this summer and as state attorneys work to persuade a federal judge to dismiss a 15-year lawsuit that has forced the state to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to correct foster care conditions. This is expected to be a significant focus for lawmakers next year.

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We frequently hear concerns about accountability and supervision of child-placing agencies ‘ spending and practices in conversations with develop and adoptive families across Texas, according to the North Texas advocacy group Building Future People, which supports develop and adoptive parents, in a statement about the LBB’s studies.

The condition has worked to increase the number of children who are placed without placement right away by finding more develop properties. Expenses to temporarily home them are still high despite the dramatic decrease in the number of children without immediate foster homes ( from about 90 a day in 2022 to less than 15 a day this year ). The state annually requires a foster child to be placed in temporary accommodation, including a hotel room, as well as overtime for staff to accompany the child, security, and a nurse to procure medications. Additionally, there are temporary contracts, often with psychiatric hospitals, as well as food and staff journey.

The associated costs associated with CWOP still remain significant, according to the report. The average daily population of Children Without Placement ( CWOP) has decreased significantly since fiscal year 2022. ” DFPS currently doesn’t publish enough regular reports to explain how child charges are related to the number of children in CWOP.”

Temporary placements for children have cost about$ 150 million overall since 2022, with only$ 35.6 million of that funding Texas’s finances and the federal government. According to the report, the Legislature has also committed an additional$ 146. 7 million to work to provide emergency housing.

Additionally, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on personal foster care companies since 2017, when the condition has first switched from DFPS to private businesses known as Single-Source Continuum Contractors, or SSCCs, for foster care location and baby administration roles.

They were not required to report their expenses in the initial regulations that created SSCCs.

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According to the LBB’s record,” This lack of monitoring has made it difficult for the Government to understand how SSCCs are spending money.”

The state discloses the costs associated with the arrangements it has with its SSCCs. As of November 2025, DFPS reported that the combined price of its five significant multi-year SSCC deals was$ 1.34 billion, according to the report.

According to a concept that was developed by the state, SSCCs are assigned to multi-county regions to bring abused children who are placed in foster care to their families and schools. SSCCs provide children with houses, offer services to them, and assist biological families in restoring custody of their children. More than 50 % of the state’s foster children are currently managed and placed by these companies.

The state’s delayed transition to personal contractors has had mixed results. One-in-a-decade Sunset reviews are being conducted by DFPS, along with the state’s another health departments, which will probably put a lot of legislative effort into the agency’s foster care privatization strategy and contractor performance. After two children died in a two-year period while the company was in charge, DFPS terminated EMPOWER, its largest company to date, from service to Dallas and eight different counties. The area is now served by two companies.

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The Texas Alliance for Child and Family Services, which represents personal foster care providers, did not respond to requests for comment on the report.

The document is being studied by DFPS, according to DFPS spokesman Marissa Gonzales.

She said,” We’re reviewing it right now and have nothing to increase.”

When a contractor or the state fails to provide assistance to people, the advocacy group Building Future Families has been asking lawmakers to set up an ombudsman office to handle complaints for years. It thinks the Legislature needs to set up one when it meets in January.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission already has an ombudsman department for complaints made by foster children.

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Families “deserve an independent advocate who can take their concerns into action and hang government bodies accountable,” the group said.

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Sep 11, 2026Hill Country Post

According to a state record, Texas needs more transparency in the spending of foster care.

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