The Texas Institute for Child and Family Wellbeing (TXICFW) is consulting with Texas Department of Family and Protective Services as they restructure foster care rates to better meet the needs of providers. Foster Care Rate Modernization has three main goals:

(1) To promote and sustain service capacity that meets the changing needs of children, youth, and young adults in the foster care system;

(2) To improve safety, well-being, and permanency outcomes for children through the provision of high-quality care; and

(3) To compensate caregivers in a manner that better aligns service delivery with the cost of caring for children.

The team at TXICFW is conducting a survey of foster care providers to understand total costs for caring for foster youth as well as exploring recommendations for assessing youth for the right services and placements.