Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
| File:Texas_DFPS_Seal.jpg | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceding agencies |
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| Jurisdiction | Statewide |
| Headquarters | Austin, Texas |
| Employees | 12,740 (2018) |
| Annual budget | $2,026,476,529 USD (2018)) |
| Agency executive |
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| Child agencies |
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| Website | www.dfps.state.tx.us |
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is responsible for investigating charges of abuse, neglect or exploitation of children, elderly adults and adults with disabilities. Prior to its creation in 2004, the agency had been called the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (DPRS).
According to the Texas Attorney General, DFPS is neither a juvenile nor an adult criminal justice agency. The Texas Juvenile Justice Department is the state juvenile justice agency, while the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is the adult justice agency.
The agency is headquartered at the John H. Winters Human Services Center at 701 West 51st Street in Austin.
The DFPS undertakes five major tasks:
It was created effective February 1, 2004 by House Bill 2292 of the 78th Texas Legislature (2003) as the first new agency in a major reorganization of Texas's health and human services system. The change was made to help "consolidate organizational structures and functions, eliminate duplicative administrative systems, and streamline processes and procedures that guide the delivery of health and human services to Texans."
DFPS has a documented history of issues with children placed in its care. A 2004 report by Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn was very critical of the Texas foster care system. A follow-up statement with continued criticisms of the Texas foster care system was made in 2006 by the Comptroller and renewed a request to have the governor create a Family and Protective Services Crisis Management Team.
The Comptroller stated that in fiscal 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively 30, 38 and 48 foster children died in the state's care. The number of foster children in the state's care increased 24 percent to 32,474 in Fiscal 2005, while the number of deaths increased 60 percent. Compared to the general population, a child is four times more likely to die in the Texas foster care system. In 2004, about 100 children were treated for poisoning from medications; 63 were treated for rape that occurred while under state care including four-year-old twin boys, and 142 children gave birth. A 12-year-old boy died in December 2005, suffocated while being restrained from behind by an employee of the facility. Another died May 30, after drowning in a creek during a bicycle outing. A three-year-old was treated for poisoning from an atypical, mind-altering anti-psychotic drug.
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