Did you know...
- Nearly one in 10 children in the United States lives in Texas. Of those children, about one third are under the age of six - the most vulnerable population for abuse and neglect.
- DFPS works with law enforcement, the medical community, service providers and the local communities to reduce child abuse and neglect fatalities, near fatalities and serious injuries.
What is the Office of Child Safety?
In September 2014, Commissioner John Specia formed the Office of Child Safety to address and reduce child abuse. The Office of Child Safety's responsibilities are:
- To independently analyze individual child abuse and neglect fatalities, near fatalities and serious injuries as well as look for patterns and any issues in the system.
- To review state and national trends regarding child fatalities, near fatalities, and serious injuries as well as prevention programs that can be used by DFPS programs, other state agencies and local communities.
Office of Child Safety's goal is to help inform and support prevention and intervention programs that address and reduce fatal and serious child abuse. To this end, the Office of Child Safety specifically works on:
- Producing consistent, transparent, and timely review of child fatalities and serious injuries conducted by independent experts outside any specific program.
- Coordinating with partners to assess root causes of child fatalities
to provide guidance on the most effective prevention changes as well as improvements in child protection practices.
- Working closely with the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and others to share data and information.
- Developing program recommendations to bring together local agencies, private sector, non-profits, and government programs to reduce child abuse and neglect fatalities.
Child Fatality Reviews
The Office of Child Safety is involved in the following reviews of child fatalities:
- The Texas Child Fatality Review Team is a multidisciplinary, multi-agency group that reviews all child deaths regardless of the cause.
- Citizen Review Teams are volunteer-citizen panels created by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to review and evaluate casework and decision-making about services for children and families who experience child abuse or neglect. They issue reports that DFPS uses to help improve services and casework practice and to provide accountability for federal funding.
Reports & Data
The Office of Child Safety publishes an annual report on child fatalities and near-fatalities, detailing investigations that concluded abuse or neglect as the cause. Additionally, the office maintains a publicly accessible spreadsheet of all child fatalities assigned for investigation.
See the Office of Child Safety Reports & Data page for details.