Texas SB 1398 (2025): Family Preservation, Placement Limits and Community-Based Care

This bill is law. It took effect September 1, 2025.

The short answer

SB 1398 changed several parts of Texas child-welfare law. It widened the meaning of "family preservation services" (short-term services meant to keep a child safely at home) to include families under a court order for services. It stopped listing parents among the people who must pay when they choose their own provider. It limited when a foster child can be kept in "temporary emergency supervision," and it added reunification measures and public reporting to community-based care contracts.

What it changes

Family preservation services. The bill defines family preservation services as time-limited, family-focused services, including services under the federal Family First Prevention Services Act and services approved under the Title IV-E state plan. They go to the family of a child who is a "candidate for foster care," to prevent the need for removal and let the child stay safely with family. The definition now also covers a child in a household under a court order for services under Family Code §264.203. See Court-Ordered Services in Texas CPS Cases (Family Code §264.203).

Who pays when you pick your own provider. For family preservation services, the Senate Research Center's analysis says the bill deletes the text that made a parent who picks their own provider responsible for the cost. SB 1398 made the same change to Tex. Fam. Code §264.2031(b) for court-ordered services. That subsection now names only a managing conservator, guardian, or household member "who is not a parent" as responsible for the cost. Under Tex. Fam. Code §264.2031(a), a parent ordered into services may get them from a qualified provider the parent selects.

According to the same analysis, the committee version removed a separate provision that would have let parents choose providers under family preservation and FBSS (Family-Based Safety Services, the in-home services DFPS offers). It also took FBSS and reunification services out of the family preservation definition. So the bill does not change how FBSS providers are chosen. See Family-Based Safety Services (FBSS) in Texas: What Families Should Know.

Temporary emergency supervision. This is care by DFPS or its contractor for a child in DFPS conservatorship who has no placement. DFPS and its contractor may not ask for it, and a court may not order it, if an appropriate placement is available. A child's refusal to stay in a placement cannot count when deciding whether the placement is appropriate. Before a court orders this kind of care, DFPS or the contractor must report on each placement it tried and why it was not appropriate. This rule applies at a placement review hearing no matter when DFPS became the child's conservator.

Community-based care. Community-based care is the system where a private "single source continuum contractor" runs foster care and case management in a region. SB 1398 says case management includes services related to family reunification, including support for a "monitored return" home. Contracts must require yearly DFPS performance reviews. These look at data such as the share of children reunified with their families after DFPS files suit, and the share of families completing family preservation services. Contracts must also require DFPS to publish each review and to impose financial remedies when a contractor fails to meet its performance outcomes or to follow court orders relating to child welfare. Each contractor must have a community advisory committee whose members can include biological parents and attorneys who represent parents. DFPS must post each contractor's performance data and improvement plans every year. These contract rules apply only to contracts entered into or amended on or after September 1, 2025.

Which laws it affects

• Family Code §262.401(3) and §262.411: the family preservation services definition and who pays for a provider the person selects.
• Family Code §263.0022 (new): temporary emergency supervision and the report on attempted placements.
• Tex. Fam. Code §264.2031: selecting a provider for court-ordered services and who pays.
• Family Code §§264.152–264.162: community-based care definitions, implementation plan, contracts, reviews and transfers of services.
• Human Resources Code §40.0583: the state auditor now reviews DFPS performance-based contracts every two years instead of every year.

Related

• Family-Based Safety Services (FBSS) in Texas: What Families Should Know
• Court-Ordered Services in Texas CPS Cases (Family Code §264.203)
• Texas HB 3041 (2021): Family Preservation Services Instead of Removal: the 2021 law that created family preservation services as an alternative to removal
• Texas SB 11 (2017): Community-Based Care and CPS Changes: the 2017 law that expanded community-based care
• Texas HB 567 (2021): Neglect Definition, Removals and Court-Ordered Services: the 2021 law on court-ordered services and the neglect definition