The Department of Family and Protective Services in Texas

DFPS Texas

Over the last several years, the issue of child abuse has been continually brought to the forefront. This is because of concerns about the safety of the child in abusive households has forced states to react by: investigating and in some cases physically seizing the children. In the State of Texas, there were a total of 264 thousand case reported for 2010, with 231 thousand turning into actual investigations. (Burstain, 2012) These statistics are showing how the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) is playing a vital role in addressing these challenges. To fully understand their responsibilities requires: providing a description of the agency, examining the organizational structure and evaluating its performance. Together, these different elements will offer the greatest insights as to how the DFPS is able to achieve its objectives.

A Description of the Agency

The Department of Family Protective Services is focused on protecting those individuals, who are considered to be the most vulnerable in society. These include: children, the elderly and the disabled. In some cases, these individuals are living at home and are receiving the assistance of caregivers to include: parents, nurses and nannies. Moreover, the authority of the DFPS extends beyond the home and will cover facilities that are looking out for these individuals. These include: assisted living facilities, day care centers, schools, state facilities and registered family homes. As a result, the official mission and purpose of the agency are to, "Protect children, the elderly, and people with disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation by involving clients, families and communities." ("About the Texas Department of Family Protective Services," 2012)

This means that the intended target population of the agency are: children, the elderly and disabled. At the same time, there will be a focus on going after anyone who is abusing these individuals to include: parents, teachers, coaches, health care workers and any person who is in a position of authority. There are no particular ethnic groups that are targeted. In the case of age related factors, various clients will fall into one of three categories they serve. The sources of funding are through: different federal and state grants. However, specific counties have been going beyond these levels by providing additional funding. This is to ensure that there are sufficient case workers for their region. ("About the Texas Department of Family Protective Services," 2012) (Burstain, 2012)

The DFPS was created with the passage of House Bill 2922. It implemented these new changes on February 1, 2004. This was designed to improve the enforcement of existing laws (which was previously allocated through the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services). The services they provide include: to investigate and protect individuals from being exposed to continuous amounts of neglect or abuse. At the same time, the agency will license / monitor caregivers who are working in state and private facilities (such as: nursing homes, assisted living facilities along with day care centers).The combination of these factors is illustrating how the DFPS plays a unique role of protecting the interest of the most vulnerable in society. ("About the Texas Department of Family Protective Services," 2012) (Burstain, 2012)

Evaluation of the Agency

The agency has been doing a good job in fulfilling its mission and purpose. Evidence of this can be seen in comparison with the total number of removals from the home for Dallas and Tarrant Counties in comparison with the number of children from 0 to 17 (which is illustrated in the below table).

Removals for Dallas and Tarrant Counties in Comparison with the Population Demographics

County

Children 0 to 17 Years

Number of Removals

Dallas

674,958

1,517

Tarrant

482,819

Total

1,157,777

2,341

("DFPS 2010 Data Book," 2010) (Burstain, 2012)

These figures are showing how the total number of removals of children was .20% of the population. This is indicating how the DFPS is successful in achieving its objectives. As the low removal rates are a sign of potential abuse (with the child having to be removed from the home as a precaution). Therefore, the target population is being served effectively by the DFPS. ("DFPS 2010 Data Book," 2010) (Burstain, 2012)

The sources of funding will have an impact on what segments of population are monitored and the kinds of programs that are introduced to deal with a specific issue. This means that the organizational structure helps to provide these services effectively. However, in the future the organization could become more bureaucratic with: a large number of supervisors and administrators. This could hurt the responsiveness of the DFPS, by not being able to quickly address problems when there are obvious signs of abuse. ("DFPS 2010 Data Book," 2010)

As a result, the organization is not experiencing these challenges at moment. In the future, this could lead to increased amounts of pressure to deal with issues that elected officials find politically important. Yet, they do not address the real problems. This is generally, a major challenge that all government programs will face (which are: effective at first and then they become unresponsive to needs of stakeholders). This can occur from more responsibilities being placed on case workers and shifting amounts of funding (from politically-based motivations). ("DFPS 2010 Data Book," 2010)