The agency is governed based on protocols that are established in Title IV of the Social Security Act and the CAPTA. To achieve its objectives, the agency is organized into a number of different positions to include: directors, counselor and managers. The way social workers fit into the organization, are they maintain these different titles when investigating and monitoring what is happening. This is accomplished by having the more experienced case workers serving in a supervisory role. They will teach less experienced social workers how to effectively interact with clients. This is when they will learn how to deal with a host of situations and address possible challenges in the future. The combination of these areas is designed to ensure the DFPS is able to achieve their larger organizational objectives. ("Child Placing Agency Administrators," 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...

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)

References

About the Texas Department of Family Protective Services. (2012). DFPS. Retrieved from: http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/About/About/

Child Placing Agency Administrators. (2012). DFPS. Retrieved from: http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/CHILD_CARE/Information_for_Providers/administrators.asp?r=3&admtype=LCPA

DFPS 2010 Data Book. (2010). DFPS. Retrieved from: http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/documents/about/Data_Books_and_Annual_Reports/2010/2010databook.pdf

Burstain, J. (2012). Child Protective Services in Texas. Centers for Public Policy Priorities.