Texas
What Texas reported to the federal government about the children in its custody and the children it investigated. Where a year says not reported, that is the record.
The funnel, FFY 2024
Texas vs. national
What happened to reports of child maltreatment in Texas in federal fiscal year 2024, at each decision point. Rates are what make states comparable; raw counts mostly measure population.
| Stage | Texas | Rate | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals to CPSCounts: referrals | 233,112 | 30.4per 1,000 children | 59.3 |
| Screened in (became reports)Counts: referrals | 178,22176.5% of referrals | — | 47.1% |
| Screened outCounts: referrals | 54,89123.5% of referrals | — | 52.9% |
| Children investigated or given an alternative responseCounts: children | 245,536 | 32per 1,000 children | 40.6 |
| Child victims (substantiated or indicated)Counts: children | 50,040 | 6.5per 1,000 children | 7.2 |
| Child fatalitiesCounts: children | 107 | 1.4per 100,000 children | 2.41 |
Referrals, reports, children, and victims are four different denominators and are not interchangeable. A referral may concern more than one child; a child may appear in more than one referral; a victim is a child with a substantiated or indicated disposition. National figures are the Children's Bureau's own estimates, not sums of the state rows.
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS), Tables 2-3, 3-1, 3-3, 4-1
What Texas does not report
For the measures on this page, Texas reported a figure in every year covered. That is not the same as the figures being complete or comparable — see the methodology for what the federal record does not measure at all.
Maltreatment and fatalities over time (NCANDS)
Child fatalities reported to NCANDS, Texas, FFY2020 to FFY2024
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)
KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child fatalities
Child maltreatment victims, Texas, FFY2020 to FFY2024
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)
KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child victims (substantiated or indicated)
Foster care (AFCARS)
| Measure | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adopted with public agency involvement | 5,443 | 5,221 | 5,457 | 5,723 | 5,361 | 5,748 | 6,105 | 5,249 | 4,647 | 4,361 |
| Entered foster care | 16,920 | 17,357 | 17,319 | 19,193 | 19,840 | 20,497 | 18,455 | 16,434 | 15,127 | 9,486 |
| Exited foster care | 16,661 | 16,420 | 17,502 | 18,227 | 18,183 | 19,403 | 19,673 | 17,552 | 16,887 | 16,067 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 29,625 | 30,358 | 29,990 | 30,738 | 32,150 | 32,960 | 31,427 | 29,991 | 28,042 | 21,358 |
| Children served in foster care | 46,286 | 46,777 | 47,492 | 48,963 | 50,331 | 52,361 | 51,097 | 47,543 | 44,929 | 37,425 |
| Termination of parental rights | 8,807 | 8,825 | 8,879 | 8,330 | 8,549 | 8,888 | 8,578 | 7,730 | 7,463 | 7,198 |
| Waiting for adoption | 12,991 | 13,238 | 12,643 | 12,377 | 13,443 | 13,822 | 12,932 | 12,319 | 11,639 | 10,232 |
Source: AFCARS state tables, FY2013 to FY2022
AFCARS 2020 rule, FFY2023 to FFY2025 (preliminary)
Collected under the AFCARS 2020 final rule, first effective FFY 2023. Counts include ages 0 to 23. Figures are preliminary estimates from submissions received by February 27, 2026, and states may still revise them. This series is not comparable with the FY 2013 to FY 2022 series, which was collected under the 1993 rule and counted a narrower population; this site does not join the two. Wyoming first submitted under the new rule for FFY 2024 and Washington for FFY 2025; earlier years for those states are shown as not reported.
| Measure | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entered foster care | 9,376 | 9,066 | 9,750 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 17,638 | 16,918 | 17,520 |
| Exited foster care | 11,718 | 9,699 | 9,032 |
Counts: children (ages 0 to 23)
Source: AFCARS Dashboard, preliminary FFY2025 estimates (No. 33)
Texas in the archive
What the numbers above cost, in KARA's own reporting.
- Impossible Questions & Painful Statistics
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 19, 2026
Are children property of their parents even if those parentsre violent, addicted, severely mentally ill or dangerously criminal?
- Best & Worst States For America's Children
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 19, 2026
Where does your state rank in protecting children & what can you do to make improvements. These statistics tell the stories of our best and worst states around the nation
- Deep Dive Into Northeastern University Child Welfare Crisis Research
KARA reportingMike TikkanenMay 21, 2026
This deep dive expands on KARA’s child welfare crisis post by walking through five Northeastern University capstone projects. Together, they use national data, infant mortality models, county level forecasting, and poverty analysis to show ...
- State of Foster Care In America
KARA reportingMike TikkanenMay 16, 2026
American Fosters are struggling. These reports from around the nation indicate a great need for more help for at risk families and safe homes for children unlucky enough to be born into toxic homes.
- Child Abuse & Prosecution in Texas: Kids, Courts, and a Broken System
KARA reportingMike TikkanenMay 6, 2026
Child abuse and prosecution in Texas tell a complex story that goes far beyond headline grabbing stings. Operation Soteria Shield rescued more than 100 children and led to over 200 arrests in a major FBI led crackdown on online child exploi...
- Sometimes People Get Shot
KARA reportingMike TikkanenMay 4, 2026
• “From Cedarbluff, Mississippi, to parties in Houston and homes in Indiana, early 2026 brought mass shootings that briefly made headlines and then faded. This essay connects those tragedies to a deeper crisis: how our systems ignore childh...
- Best and Worst Hospitals For U.S. Children (Beckers Hospital Review)
KARA reportingMike TikkanenApril 8, 2026
Which states give kids the best chance at a healthy life? This review ranks all 50 states and D.C. on children’s healthcare, nutrition, and oral health—and the gaps are stark.
- From Classrooms to Homeless Shelters: How Our Choices Hurt Children
KARA reportingMike TikkanenMarch 24, 2026
Compared to other advanced nations America treats children and the people who care for them as an afterthought and then acts surprised when our schools and child‑welfare systems are overwhelmed with troubled children suffering from health a...