Embedded Files
Statewide Expansion and
Statewide Expansion and Lessons from Other Regions (2017–2021)
With legislative backing, Community-Based Care expanded methodically across Texas. Region 2 (Texoma/Big Country) – the other half of the original Providence catchment – was selected to relaunch CBC. After a competitive process, DFPS awarded the Region 2 SSCC contract in mid-2018 to 2INgage, a partnership between Texas Family Initiative LLC and New Horizons Ranch & Center. By December 2018, 2INgage had “go-live” operations in 30 counties around Abilene and Wichita Falls. Over the next two years, 2INgage built local foster capacity and by mid-2020 successfully transitioned into Stage II, taking on full case management. In 2024, Region 2 advanced into Stage III with performance-based payments. This marked a major milestone: Northwest Texas was now fully managing its foster care system through a local partnership.
Meanwhile, the Fort Worth-area Region 3B (Our Community, Our Kids) continued to mature. Launched in 2014, OCOK demonstrated improvements in placement stability and use of kinship care. By March 2020, OCOK advanced to Stage II, assuming full case management. Its collaborative model – partnering with a network of nearly 100 local service providers – showed the power of shared responsibility in an urban-suburban context.
The Texas Panhandle (Region 1) followed soon after. In January 2020, St. Francis Ministries began as the SSCC for 41 counties including Amarillo and Lubbock. Despite launching in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, St. Francis built a local continuum of foster homes and services, further extending CBC across northern and western Texas.
South and Central Texas saw mixed results. Region 8A (Bexar County) launched CBC in 2019 with Family Tapestry, a division of The Children’s Shelter of San Antonio. But the effort was short-lived. In spring 2021, Family Tapestry gave notice and ended its contract early, citing sustainability challenges. DFPS resumed foster care in Bexar County as of July 1, 2021. However, the surrounding Region 8B (Hill Country and South Central counties) successfully launched with BELONG (operated by SJRC Texas), demonstrating that rural-adjacent areas could make CBC work with the right leadership and supports.
By the end of 2021, CBC was operating in several regions, each bringing new insights. Adequate funding proved essential. In 2019, the Legislature passed House Bill 1, allocating additional appropriations to help SSCCs transition to Stage II and support new regions. Collaborations also emerged between SSCCs to address systemwide challenges like placement capacity and high-needs youth. Yet Region 9 – the Permian Basin and Concho Valley – remained without an SSCC. When DFPS issued a new Request for Applications for Region 9 in 2022, there were no applicants. The continued absence of an SSCC in West Texas underscored the difficulty of applying a standard CBC model to rural regions.
Sources:
Texas DFPS CBC Overview: https://www.dfps.texas.gov/Child_Protection/Foster_Care/Community-Based_Care/default.asp
Texas CASA CBC Guide (2023): https://texascasa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CBC-Guide-2023.pdf
Texas HHS CBC Implementation Progress: https://www.hhs.texas.gov/about/records-statistics/data-statistics/community-based-care-progress
House Bill 1 (86th Legislature) Final Bill Text (Appropriations): https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/billtext/pdf/HB00001F.pdf
Texas Tribune: “Foster Care Redesign Pilot Program Ends Early” (2014): https://www.texastribune.org/2014/04/08/foster-care-redesign-pilot-program-ends-early/
Page updated
Report abuse