From The Texas Tribune · Terri Langford · · 2m
Texas can't say where its foster care money goes
A new state report finds Texas has no real accounting for hotel stays or the $1.34 billion it pays private foster care contractors.
In brief
A new state report finds Texas has no real accounting for hotel stays or the $1.34 billion it pays private foster care contractors. The Legislative Budget Board did not find misspending, it found that Texas has no reporting system that would reveal misspending in the first place. Originally reported by The Texas…
A gap in the books
The Legislative Budget Board's 2026 Strategic Fiscal Review says Texas cannot show what it spends to temporarily house foster children, or what private contractors do with their money.
Not fraud, just fog
The report stops short of alleging the Department of Family and Protective Services misspent anything. The problem is that lawmakers have no detailed expenditure data to judge whether the spending is justified.
Arriving at a loud moment
Texas fired its largest foster care contractor this summer, and state attorneys are trying to get a 15-year lawsuit dismissed. Privatization is set to be a major legislative focus next year.
Parents have been saying this
Building Future Families, a North Texas advocacy group, says foster and adoptive parents raise the same complaint again and again about child-placing agencies.
“We consistently hear concerns about transparency and oversight of child-placing agencies' spending and practices.”
Fewer kids, same bill
Children without an immediate placement fell from about 90 a night in 2022 to under 15 now. Each night still means a hotel room, staff overtime, security, a nurse, food and travel.
“Although the average daily population of CWOP has decreased significantly since fiscal year 2022, the associated costs to oversee CWOP remain significant.”
$150 million, mostly Texas
Temporary placements have cost roughly $150 million since 2022, with only $35.6 million from the federal government. The Legislature spent another $146.7 million on emergency placement housing.
A law with no receipts
When Texas began shifting placement work to private contractors in 2017, the law creating them never required them to report expenditures. Their five contracts are now worth $1.34 billion.
“This lack of reporting has made it difficult for the Legislature to know how SSCCs are expending funds.”
The ask: an ombudsman
Advocates want the Legislature to create an independent office for family complaints when it convenes in January. Foster children have one at the health commission; families do not.
“Families deserve an independent advocate with the power to turn their concerns into action.”
What matters most
The Legislative Budget Board did not find misspending, it found that Texas has no reporting system that would reveal misspending in the first place.
