State
Tone: Hard data.Data StoriesTexas
Removals rose for the first time in three years. Four urban counties account for more than a third, and the rates tell a different story than the counts.
Tone: Hopeful.InspirationTexas
Of 9,876 exits from DFPS custody in FY 2025, nearly three in four ended with a parent or a relative.
Tone: Explainer.PreventionTexas
A real decline, a definition change, and a bigger number DFPS publishes separately: 86 infant deaths where bed-sharing was a factor.
Tone: Hard data.Official ReportsTexas
DFPS investigated 581 child deaths and confirmed abuse or neglect in 124. Nearly three in four of those children were 3 or younger.
Tone: Explainer.ExplainedTexas
16,866? 17,623? 27,343? All three are official. Each answers a different question.
Tone: Explainer.PreventionTexas
Drowning was the second most common cause of confirmed abuse and neglect deaths in Texas in FY 2025. It is also one of the most preventable.
Tone: Explainer.ExplainedTexas
Most Texas foster homes are verified by private child-placing agencies, and no public statewide total exists. That gap is itself a finding.
Tone: Hopeful.Take ActionTexas
You don't need it all figured out. You need an information meeting and an agency. Here is the path, straight from DFPS.
Tone: Explainer.Data StoriesTexas
Adoptions are down by more than half since FY 2019. So is the number of children in care, and that context matters.
Tone: Hard data.Data StoriesTexas
The fewest in a decade, and still 772 young adults starting life without a permanent family.