Adoption in San Antonio, Texas, for most families, means adopting a child from foster care: a child in the conservatorship of the state whose parents' rights a court has ended, placed with a family a licensed agency has verified, and adopted through the Bexar County courts. The family is licensed as a foster home first, and the help the state provides does not stop on the day the adoption is granted. This post explains how that path works here, how many children are waiting, what the law requires, and what an agency does along the way.
One thing to say before anything else, because it shapes every step: reunification with the birth family is the first goal in every Texas case. Adoption is what happens when the court finds that goal cannot be reached, and a family that starts out fostering should not expect adoption to be the outcome.
How does a child in San Antonio become available for adoption?
Through a court. DFPS states that adoption is the legal process through which a child joins a family different from his or her birth parents, and that a child becomes legally free in one of two ways: CPS asks the court to end the parents' rights and place the child with another family permanently, or both birth parents agree to give up their rights. The Texas Family Code puts the same rule in statute at section 162.001: a child residing in this state may be adopted if the parent-child relationship as to each living parent has been terminated, or a suit for termination is joined with the suit for adoption.
In Bexar County the agency that finds a placement for a child during that process is the Single Source Continuum Contractor for the area DFPS labels Region 8a, which is Bexar County alone. DFPS names that contractor as SJRC Texas Inc. and its division, Belong, live since September 1, 2025. Licensed child-placing agencies such as Angelheart verify the homes those children are placed in and support the family through the case.
How many children in Bexar County are waiting for adoption?
On August 31, 2025, DFPS counted 460 Bexar County children waiting for adoption, out of 3,805 across Texas, according to the DFPS adoption data on the Texas Open Data Portal. Of those 460, 214 were in placements that were not intended to be permanent, which is the plainest measure of how many children in San Antonio still need an adoptive family rather than a court date.
The same data records what happened in fiscal year 2025. Of 1,065 Bexar County children who left DFPS custody that year, 357 were reunified with family and 214 went to the custody of relatives. A total of 368 were adopted, 190 by relatives and 178 by non-relatives. Statewide, 2,942 children were adopted from foster care in the year.
Who can adopt from foster care in Texas?
The DFPS requirements are the same for adoptive and foster parents. You must be at least 21, financially stable and a responsible mature adult; you may be single or married. You complete an application, provide relative and non-relative references, agree to a home study that includes visits with everyone in the household, and allow criminal history and abuse or neglect checks on every adult in the home. Pre-service training, which DFPS describes as the 19-hour Texas NTDC course, comes before placement.
The home study is a caseworker visiting your home to talk through your personal history, your family's interests and lifestyle, your childcare experience, the types of children who would fit best with you, and your strengths in meeting their needs. On the Angelheart side, families interested in adoption complete the foster-to-adopt licensure process, because a child is placed with a family as a foster placement before the court can grant an adoption.
What does the court require before it grants an adoption?
Three things stand out in the Family Code for a family reading it for the first time. Under section 162.009, the court may not grant an adoption until the child has resided with the petitioner for at least six months, though it may waive that if the waiver is in the child's best interest. Under section 162.010, a child 12 years of age or older must consent to the adoption in writing or in court, unless the court waives that in the child's interest. And under section 162.016, if the court finds the requirements for adoption have been met and the adoption is in the best interest of the child, the court shall grant it.
None of that is legal advice. Each case has its own facts, and the court, DFPS and a family's own lawyer decide what applies to it.
What help continues after the adoption?
Two programs, both from the state. DFPS's adoption assistance program exists, in DFPS's words, to facilitate adoption of children with special needs who might otherwise not be adopted. A child qualifies if at least one condition applies, including being at least six years old, being adopted with or to join a sibling, or having a verifiable physical, mental or emotional disabling condition. DFPS lists the benefits as Medicaid, reimbursement of certain one-time adoption expenses up to $1,200 per child, and monthly payments capped at $400 to $545 depending on the child's service level. The agreement must be signed before the adoption is consummated, so it is a conversation to have before the court date, not after.
The second is the state college tuition waiver. DFPS describes it as a state law that waives tuition and fees at state-supported colleges and universities for youth currently or formerly in DFPS conservatorship and for those adopted from DFPS. An adoption on or after September 1, 2009 qualifies, enrollment must begin before age 27, and a student adopted with an adoption assistance agreement has no age limit.
Where Angelheart fits in
Angelheart's adoption program serves children in state conservatorship whose parents' rights have been terminated, and we especially seek families with a heart for older children, sibling groups and children with special needs. Families adopt through the foster-to-adopt licensure process, and relatives already caring for a child whose parents' rights are terminated can use our straight adopt option, a shorter licensure path. Waiting children can be viewed through the Texas Adoption Resource Exchange and the Heart Gallery of Central Texas.
In San Antonio, Program Director Ruby Palacios and the team at our San Antonio office, 5368 Fredericksburg Road, Suite 100, Building C, guide local families through becoming foster, kinship and adoptive homes, with case management, training and 24-hour support through the whole case. Call (210) 405-0014 or start an inquiry and we will reach out to you.