Homelessness & Foster Care (Texas)
Texas operates the largest foster care system among the seven states. This page explores how housing instability and foster care involvement overlap for teens (12–17), especially around exits and reentry.
What We Track
- Teen foster care entries and point-in-time population, 2015–2025
- Discharge destinations (reunification, guardianship, adoption, IL)
- Returns to care within 12 months and correlates with housing instability
- School McKinney–Vento flags, shelter contacts, and related proxy indicators
- Reentry stability: school enrollment continuity, service handoffs, housing supports
Methods
Rates are normalized to the 12–17 population; small counts are pooled over 2–3 years and annotated. Where reporting definitions change, we mark breaks in series. Housing stability is proxied with education liaison flags and service contacts when direct housing data are limited.
Findings (Stub)
- — summarize 2015–2025 teen entry trends and share of total entries —
- — highlight regions with persistent housing instability at/after exit —
- — identify practice gaps in data handoffs impacting housing supports —
Program & Policy Notes (Stub)
- Rapid rehousing, host homes, and kinship stabilization
- McKinney–Vento coordination and school re-engagement supports
- Justice–child welfare data handoffs to monitor post-release housing risk