The Road Ahead in West Texas (2025–2028 and Beyond) 

The Road Ahead in West Texas (2025–2028 and Beyond) 

With Senate Bill 513 now law, West Texas stands at the threshold of implementation. The coming years will mark a transition from legislative success to real-world change as the region prepares to launch a community-governed foster care system—one shaped by local values and accountability.

In late 2025 or early 2026, DFPS is expected to release a formal Request for Applications (RFA) specific to the Region 9 pilot. This RFA will reflect the unique flexibilities granted by SB 513, enabling West Texas to pursue a locally designed model without the constraints that hampered previous CBC rollouts in rural areas. West Texas Together has proposed co-creating the RFA through a Regional Design Advisory Group, made up of community leaders from the Permian Basin and Concho Valley. This group will aim to ensure the RFA includes clear metrics for child wellbeing, placement proximity, kinship support, and community inclusion—rather than simply replicating the metrics of more urban SSCCs.

Once the lead entity is selected (anticipated in mid-2026), a startup phase will follow. During this period, the SSCC will build provider networks, staffing plans, kinship caregiver support systems, and cross-agency referral processes. The focus will be on continuity of care and transitioning case responsibilities from DFPS to the community in a phased and stable manner.

The implementation of Stage I services (foster placement, support services, and case coordination) is expected to begin by late 2026 or early 2027. The pilot’s first full year will serve as both a launch and a learning lab. WTT’s goals during this stage include keeping 80% of children placed within 100 miles of their home, significantly reducing placement disruptions, and increasing the number of kinship families receiving wraparound supports.

If the pilot proves successful, Stage II—full case management by the SSCC—may launch by 2027 or 2028. This would include oversight of permanency planning, legal coordination, and family reunification processes. Data gathered during this transition will inform how the model may be expanded or replicated.

SB 513 requires periodic evaluation, and by 2027 the state will begin analyzing whether the West Texas model has produced better outcomes than the traditional legacy system. Measures will include child wellbeing, time to permanency, placement stability, caregiver satisfaction, and system responsiveness. West Texas Together is developing a parallel community scorecard that will elevate voices of families, foster youth, and kinship caregivers as part of this assessment.

The pilot also aspires to shape long-term policy. If successful, the Region 9 model could offer a blueprint for how other rural regions in Texas—and possibly other states—can implement CBC in a way that centers local expertise. The coalition’s broader BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is to eliminate the need for child removals by radically expanding family preservation services and activating faith-based and nonprofit partners long before CPS becomes involved.

By 2028 and beyond, West Texas hopes to demonstrate what happens when a region stops waiting for top-down reform and instead dares to build the system it wishes it had. In doing so, it not only serves its own children better—it gives hope to every rural community still waiting to be seen.

Sources:

• Texas Legislature Online – SB 513 Full Text: https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB513

• Rural Pilot One-Pager (One Accord for Kids): https://www.oneaccordforkids.org/_files/ugd/cbc-rural-pilot.pdf

• West Texas Together – 2025 Letter to DFPS

• West Texas Together – PEI Action Plan 2024

• West Texas Together – Futurecast 2027

• Texas HHS CBC Progress Report: https://www.hhs.texas.gov/about/records-statistics/data-statistics/community-based-care-progress

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