Explained: Three Ways Texas Counts Children in Foster Care

Ask "how many children are in foster care in Texas?" and the DFPS Data Book offers several right answers. Knowing which is which keeps you from comparing apples to oranges.

1. In substitute care on August 31: 16,866

Children living in an out-of-home placement (a foster home, a relative's home under DFPS, a residential facility) on the last day of the fiscal year. It excludes children who were returned home while DFPS kept legal responsibility, and it includes young adults over 18 in extended foster care. This is the closest thing to "children in foster care tonight."

2. In DFPS custody on August 31: 17,623

Children for whom DFPS held legal responsibility on that same day, wherever they were living. It is a bit larger because it includes children back home under DFPS supervision.

3. In custody at any point during the year: 27,343

Every child DFPS was legally responsible for at some point in FY 2025. It is much larger because children enter and leave throughout the year. A child who entered and left twice can be counted twice.

Which one should you use?

• To describe how many children are in care right now: substitute care on August 31.
• To describe DFPS's caseload: custody on August 31.
• To describe how many children the system touched in a year: custody during the year, with the duplication caveat.

National AFCARS counts use a September 30 snapshot of the federal fiscal year, so they won't match any of these exactly. Neither is wrong.