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DFPS Prevention and Early Intervention reports 59 child drowning deaths in Texas in calendar 2026 (headline figure as of 08/07/26). These are Texas children overall — not a count of children in DFPS foster care.

According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) child drowning page, 59 children have drowned in Texas in 2026 (headline figure as of the page update dated 08/07/26).

Important context: This is a statewide public water-safety count of children in Texas. It is not a count of children in DFPS foster care, open CPS cases, or DFPS conservatorship. DFPS publishes this under PEI / Office of Child Safety as prevention data for families and communities.

The 2026 headline number (and a data caveat)

As of FosterData's verification on 2026-08-08:

Page headline: 59 children have drowned in Texas in 2026
County table total on the same page: 59 (sum of listed county rows matches headline)

FosterData uses the headline figure of 59 for the lead statistic and links the source so readers can verify.

Update from our previous coverage

In July we reported 44 children drowned in Texas in 2026 (as of the page's previous update on 06/30/26). Since then, DFPS added 15 more cases to the count — most concentrated in Harris County (11), Fort Bend County (4), and Dallas County (3). The county table total now matches the headline.

Prior years (for context)

Earlier FosterData coverage noted large annual totals in prior years (for example, DFPS public drowning reporting associated with 88 deaths in 2025 and 103 in 2024). Always check the live DFPS page for the current official numbers.

Who is at risk?

Drowning is a leading cause of accidental death for young children. Toddlers can drown in minutes in pools, bathtubs, ponds, and other water. PEI frames this as a preventable risk for Texas families — not as a foster-care caseload metric.

Prevention (DFPS PEI emphasis)

Never leave children unsupervised around water, indoors or outdoors
Designate a water watcher at gatherings
Empty buckets, tubs, and kiddie pools after use
Learn CPR — seconds matter
Install barriers around pools and water features

What FosterData is doing

We turn official DFPS/public numbers into shareable, sourced explainers. For this story we also published a photoreal social hero still and short video on Instagram so the number is visible without sensationalism.

Source: DFPS Child Drownings (page updated 06/30/26; FosterData verified 2026-07-18).