DALLAS COUNTY, Texas — The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) filed a request for a court to consider tapping a third-party entity to take over foster care case management in nine North Texas counties on Monday.
It’s been just more than three years since DFPS awarded a contract to EMPOWER to oversee case management for foster children in Dallas, Collin, Ellis, Rockwall, Grayson, Fannin, Navarro, Hunt and Kaufman counties. These counties make up Region 3E, or Metroplex East, in the department’s geographic map.
Once DFPS investigates and determines it is necessary to remove a child from their home, it has been EMPOWER’s responsibility to assign each child a caseworker, find safe placements for each child and maintain oversight of their safety since fully taking over case management in March 2024. It’s part of what DFPS calls community-based care (CBC), a statewide model to contract private groups to manage foster care throughout Texas on a regional level…