Texas Removed 10,011 Children in FY 2025. The County Pattern Matters.

Texas does not have to wait for a headline to understand where child welfare pressure is building. DFPS publishes county-level removal data through the state open data portal, and the fiscal year 2025 table shows 10,011 CPS removals statewide.

A removal is one of the most serious actions in the child protection system. DFPS defines it as occurring when CPS determines that a child cannot safely remain in their own home and DFPS must seek legal custody to ensure child safety. That definition matters because each row in this dataset represents a decision point where family preservation was no longer considered enough to keep a child safe at home.

Most FY 2025 Removals Began During Investigations

Of the 10,011 removals reported for FY 2025, 6,986 were tied to the investigation stage. Another 3,025 were tied to family preservation. Put differently, roughly seven in ten removals happened at the investigation stage, before a case had moved into longer-term services.

That does not mean those removals were avoidable. It does mean the front door of the system deserves close attention. If families are reaching crisis during investigation, prevention and early support may be arriving too late, or not reaching the right households soon enough.

The Highest County Counts Were Not Evenly Spread

The largest FY 2025 county totals were concentrated in a small group of high-population counties:

• Bexar County: 1,143 removals
• Harris County: 971 removals
• Dallas County: 835 removals
• Tarrant County: 523 removals
• Bell County: 342 removals

Population explains part of that pattern, but not all of it. County-level removal counts should be read alongside child population, poverty, investigation volume, service availability, kinship placement capacity, and local court practice. A raw total is not a blame score. It is a starting point for better questions.

What This Data Should Trigger

For advocates, providers, and public officials, the FY 2025 removal table points to three practical questions:

1. Where are removals rising or concentrating? County-level patterns can help target prevention dollars and caregiver recruitment.
2. Which removals follow failed family preservation? Those cases may reveal gaps in service access, parent support, or safety planning.
3. Are children staying close to home after removal? Removal data should be paired with placement-location data to see whether children remain connected to schools, siblings, kin, and community.

The Bottom Line

Texas published enough data to make the system visible. The next step is using it. A statewide total of 10,011 removals is not just an annual statistic; it is a map of where families, courts, caseworkers, relatives, foster parents, and community providers are carrying the most pressure.

Source: Texas Open Data Portal, CPS 2.1 Removals - by County FY2016-2025, attributed to TX DFPS Data & Decision Support. Dataset source link: DFPS Data Book, Removals.