Texas Family Code Chapter 264 contains provisions about protecting children in DFPS conservatorship and while living in substitute care, with special considerations for the placement of children under two years old. It is a broad and comprehensive chapter addressing a range of topics that are all generally related to the following:

• Providing services to children in substitute care and to their families and relative caregivers.
• The proper use of assessment services when determining substitute care placement for a child.

Its provisions relate to eligibility for foster care, the DFPS Kinship Care Program, Permanency Care Assistance, child fatality review teams, parental child safety placements (PCSPs), court appointed special advocates (CASAs), children’s advocacy centers (CACs) and services to at-risk youth.

Among other things, this chapter does the following:

• Describes how DFPS cooperates with county child welfare boards.
• Mandates trauma-informed training for caregivers and DFPS caseworkers.
• Requires DFPS to provide certain records to foster children when they turn 18 and are released from care.