Greater Austin area now able to welcome more foster children than it produces
The central Texas foster care region that includes Travis County, Bastrop, Burnet, and seven other counties is increasingly able to take in more foster children than it produces.
Fewer children from this area needed to go into foster care in fiscal year 2017 compared to the previous year — a statistic known as “foster care placement demand.” The year-to-year change of -20% was reported in the August 2018 Foster Care Needs Assessment, published last Friday by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
“Between fiscal year 2016 and 2017, demand for foster care placements decreased in nine catchments, most dramatically in catchment 7B,” says the report, referring to an administrative zone covering Bastrop, Blanco, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Travis, and Washington counties.
The drop of 20% brought total placement demand in 7B down to 1111.
Of these, 61% were placed in a foster home, 6% went into a ‘general residential organization,’ 15% into a residential treatment center, and 17% into an emergency shelter. Not all of them necessarily were placed within the Austin catchment area; this figure of 1111 represents only the total number of placements that were needed for children originating from the area.
A separate statistic known as “foster care supply” represents the total number of foster care placements made in the catchment area for children from anywhere in the state. It is not the number of facilities, homes or beds, but rather the requests for placements of children actually accepted in the fiscal year. Region 7B saw a 7% increase in foster home placements, with a supply total of 1177, according to the Texas child welfare agency.
The central Texas region that includes Austin also experienced the largest decline in “removals” of any Texas Child Protective Services region. In 7B, 1,106 children were removed in FY17, a decline of 12% from 2016. More than half of children removed from their parents in this area were placed in the custody of another relative. Under Texas law, a child may be removed from his parents by a family court judge in cases where a parent abuses or neglects the child.
The Texas child welfare agency forecast that in FY2019 the number of children from the central Texas region (7B) needing placement in foster care would further decline to 707.
However, the report notes that the Austin catchment area lacks enough emergency shelters.
