During a disaster, DFPS is responsible for knowing the location and condition of all children in DFPS conservatorship. In addition, children placed in Texas who are under the conservatorship of another state must also be accounted for and in a safe placement.

Children in DFPS conservatorship Who Are Placed Outside Texas

For children in DFPS conservatorship who are placed in another state, the Texas Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) unit maintains awareness of disaster or emergency events. Staff who report to the director of field create a list of children placed in the affected area and provide the list to the Texas ICPC unit when an event occurs in another state. The Texas ICPC unit immediately emails the ICPC compact office in the receiving state.

The Texas ICPC unit meets internally to review the list of children and identify any new placements that have been made since the date the list was created. The Texas ICPC unit does the following:

• Provides a list of children placed in the affected area to the ICPC office in the receiving state.
• Requests that the receiving state make contact with caregivers and report back to Texas.

If there are concerns about a child in DFPS conservatorship, the Texas ICPC unit notifies the following people about the severity of the concern:

• Primary caseworker.
• Primary caseworker’s supervisor.
• Primary caseworker’s chain of command.
• ICPC regional coordinator.

The Texas ICPC unit follows up with the following, as necessary, until concerns are addressed and the safety of children has been ensured:

• Primary caseworker.
• Primary caseworker’s supervisor.
• The receiving state’s ICPC office.

When a family with a child in DFPS conservatorship evacuates to another state permanently because of a natural disaster, the child’s primary caseworker must do all of the following:

• Submit a Regulation 1 – Relocation of Family Unit home study request through IMPACT to the supervisor along with the Form 100B ICPC Report on Child’s Placement StatusPDF Document requesting supervision.
• Distinguish a child’s case involving a natural disaster by checking the Natural Disaster check box on the Placement Request (100A) and manually entering the name of the disaster in the text field below the check box.
• Submit a closure 100B through IMPACT, notifying the original receiving state that the family and child have moved.

Children in Another State’s Conservatorship Who Are Placed in Texas

If the Texas ICPC unit is notified that there has been a natural disaster in Texas, its staff run a Data Warehouse report to identify children in another state’s conservatorship currently placed in that disaster area. The Texas ICPC unit does the following:

• Provides the regional ICPC coordinator the list of children.
• Requests that the courtesy caseworker make contact with the caregivers and child and report back to the Texas ICPC unit.

The Texas ICPC unit notifies the sending state’s ICPC office of the child’s safety and well-being along with any concerns about the family and child. The Texas ICPC unit follows up with the regional ICPC coordinator, as necessary, until concerns are addressed and the child’s safety has been ensured.

When a family with a child in another state’s conservatorship evacuates to Texas permanently because of a natural disaster, the other state’s ICPC office must submit a Regulation 1 home study request along with the 100B requesting supervision.