🟡Relating to certain procedures and community-based foster care

🟡 SB 1398: Expands foster care contracting but weakens oversight

What it says it does:
SB 1398 is presented as a reform to reduce the number of children stuck without placements and to strengthen family preservation and adoption services. It promises to improve outcomes by expanding community-based foster care and giving the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) new tools to manage providers.

What it actually changes:
The bill shifts much of foster care management from state employees to large regional contractors known as community-based care providers. It authorizes DFPS to expand these contracts to include adoption, aftercare, and family preservation. It also reduces the State Auditor’s review of DFPS contracts from yearly to every two years, meaning fewer public checks on contractor performance.

Who is pushing for it:
Supporters listed in the files include Texans Care for Children, East Texas CASA, Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services, Texas CASA, TFI, Texas Network of Youth Services, and Buckner International.

Who benefits:
Large nonprofit and private child welfare networks gain broader control and stable funding through expanded regional contracts. DFPS gains more flexibility in managing its providers through procurement and performance clauses.

Who gets left out or exposed:
Small local service providers face new compliance barriers that may shut them out of contracts. Families and parents may have less access to case information because decisions are increasingly controlled through private contract terms instead of public agency procedures.

Why this matters long term:
The foster care system is being rebuilt around private operators, not state caseworkers. That structure can move faster, but it also moves decisions out of public view. Over time, accountability depends less on open hearings and more on contract negotiations.

What to watch next:
Watch for how DFPS defines and enforces performance outcomes, how much data is made public, and whether contractors post their required community engagement plans and advisory committee findings.

Bottom line:
SB 1398 reframes foster care as a contracting system. It may improve local delivery on paper, but it trades daily transparency for a model that depends on private operators to self-report and perform under reduced oversight.

Questions to ask lawmakers:

1. Why reduce State Auditor contract reviews from annual to biennial when more responsibility is being shifted to regional contractors?
2. What specific public metrics will be posted regularly so Texans can see whether placements are safer and more stable, and not just moved around faster?
3. If a contractor misses targets or cuts corners, what is the clear, public process for corrective action and when does DFPS step in directly?


#SB1398 #TexasPolicy #FosterCare #ChildWelfare #WatchTheRules