The Chapter 749 minimum standards are the rules HHSC writes for child-placing agencies in Texas, and the parts that apply to your house cover the screening, the inspections, where a child sleeps, how many children the home may take, water and firearms and pets, and what may never be used as discipline. They are not a test you study for and they are not a scoring system. They are a floor, and the agency that verifies your home is the one responsible for showing that the floor is met. This is what the current version of that chapter actually asks of a foster family, written for someone deciding whether to apply.
The parts of the chapter that bear directly on a foster family are these:
- the home screening and the interviews behind it, sections 749.901 and 749.903
- training and certification before a child arrives, sections 749.803 and 749.805
- verification of the home itself, section 749.923
- how many children the home may take, sections 749.951 and 749.953
- the condition of the house, its inspections and fire safety, sections 749.1001 to 749.1009
- sleeping spaces and bathrooms, sections 749.1051 and 749.1053
- water, firearms and pets, sections 749.1061, 749.1031 and 749.1011
- discipline and normalcy, sections 749.1303 and 749.1419
- visits and the annual evaluation once you are verified, sections 749.1105 and 749.1103
What is Chapter 749, and who wrote it?
Chapter 749 is the Minimum Standards for Child-Placing Agencies, and it sits in the Texas Administrative Code at Title 26, Part 1. HHSC explains on its Minimum Standards page that Chapter 42 of the Texas Human Resources Code requires the Health and Human Services Commission to regulate child care and child-placing activities in Texas and to create and enforce those standards. The HHSC Child Care Regulation department develops the rules, and once they are proposed, reviewed and adopted they become part of the Texas Administrative Code.
One feature of the chapter is worth knowing before you read any of it. Every standard carries a weight, high, medium-high, medium, medium-low or low, set by the risk to children if that standard is violated, and the weight is printed at the end of each standard. HHSC notes that only those standards which can be cited as a deficiency are weighted, so a definition carries no weight. Almost everything described below is weighted high, which tells you where the state puts the risk.
Why do the section numbers you find online not match?
Because the chapter was renumbered in 2026 and much of what is published elsewhere is still the old version. The Texas Register records the amendments with an effective date of August 10, 2026, filed with the Secretary of State in July of that year, and HHSC says the adopted rules simplify, consolidate and reorganize requirements while maintaining protections for children in care.
That reorganisation repealed the foster-home sections people most often quote and replaced them with new ones. The old section on bedroom space, the old section on the maximum number of children, the old sections on bathrooms, screenings and swimming pools were all repealed outright. The current publication is titled Minimum Standards for Child Placing Agencies, is stamped Revised 8/2026, and runs 344 pages. Every section number in this post was read off that edition, so if a number here does not match a page you found on a legal reference site, the reference site is behind.
What does the screening actually involve?
A foster home screening has to be completed before the home can be verified, under section 749.901, and it is an assessment of the household rather than a form. The agency must obtain, discuss, assess and document the age of each prospective foster parent and every household member, and each parent's emotional stability, character, health and ability to manage adult responsibility. It also assesses motivation and willingness to foster, including your expectations of a child in care and your willingness to adjust those expectations to the needs of the child who actually arrives.
The interview list in section 749.903 is more thorough than most applicants expect. It requires one individual interview with each prospective foster parent and with each household member at least three years old living in the home full or part time, one joint interview with the prospective parents, one in-home family group interview with every household member present, and one individual interview with each adult child of yours who does not live with you. It also requires three additional references, at least one of them from someone not related to you. If the agency cannot reach an adult child, it may skip that interview only after at least three separate attempts.
The screening is not a one-off either. Section 749.901 requires the agency to update it with an addendum on any major life change, which the rule defines to include marriage, divorce, separation, death, birth, adoption or any other change in who lives in the household, a serious health problem affecting a foster parent's ability to care for a child, and one parent being away for a long period such as military service or an out-of-town job.
What training do you have to do first?
At least one foster parent must complete four hours of general caregiver training and six hours of emergency behavior intervention training before the agency places a child with you, under section 749.803. Safe sleeping training is required as well if the home will care for a child under two years old. Other caregivers, including a second foster parent, have 90 days after placement to complete the same training.
The content is specified, not left to the agency alone. General caregiver training has to cover trauma informed care and measures to prevent, recognise and report suspected child abuse, including sexual abuse. Section 749.805 adds that one foster parent must be certified in pediatric first aid and pediatric CPR before the agency issues the verification, with other caregivers certified within 90 days after it, and the CPR training must follow American Heart Association guidelines. What an agency owes you in ongoing support and training once you are verified is a longer subject.
What does the state require of the house itself?
Less than most people fear, and it is about safety rather than size or finish. Section 749.1001 requires the home and everything on the grounds to be clean, safe, sanitary and in a reasonable state of repair, requires that indoor and outdoor space and equipment not pose an undue safety risk, requires heating and cooling appropriate to the season and the region, and requires the home to keep first aid supplies.
Two inspections sit behind that. Under section 749.1003 the home must have either a health inspection by the local health authority or a health and safety evaluation by the agency's own child placement staff using HHSC's Environmental Health Checklist for Foster Homes. Under section 749.1005 it must have either a fire inspection by a state or local fire authority or, where the authority cannot do one, a fire safety evaluation conducted by agency staff. In both cases the home has to correct anything the inspector documents and comply with any conditions the inspector sets.
The fire safety rule, section 749.1007, is specific. Working smoke detectors are required in the kitchen, in hallways or open areas outside sleeping spaces, and on each level of a multi-level home. A carbon monoxide detector is required if the home has a gas appliance, a propane space heater, a fireplace, a wood stove or an attached garage.
The same section asks for two more things. The home needs one non-expired, operational fire extinguisher that is easy to reach in an emergency. It also needs an exit, a door or a window, from the home and from each child's sleeping space, unblocked, large enough for a child to get through, and leading outside.
Section 749.1009 adds a written plan for fire and severe weather, which the agency may give you as a template. The agency that verified your home reviews that plan with every caregiver and child each year in a way each of them understands, and the home practises it with a child in care within the first month of placement.
On bathrooms, section 749.1053 sets a flat minimum: at least one bathroom that allows for privacy, one toilet, and one bathroom sink and one tub or shower with hot and cold running water.
Where does a foster child sleep?
Every child in care must have a designated sleeping space with an individual sleeping surface, such as a bed or mattress, and linens. That is section 749.1051, and it is the rule that replaced the old bedroom-space section. Up to four children may share a sleeping space, but only with approval from the agency's child placement management staff, and sleeping spaces and surfaces have to fit the needs, developmental level and age of the child.
Sharing is not a paperwork formality. Before approving it, the management staff must determine and document in the child's service plan that there is no known risk of harm from sharing, after assessing the relationship between the child and the other person, their ages and developmental levels, their behaviours, any history of possible sexual trauma or sexually inappropriate behaviour, and any other factor that bears on it. An infant may never be approved to share a sleeping surface. A child in care over the age of five must not share a room used as a sleeping space with a child of the opposite sex.
Notice what the current rule does not contain. It sets no floor area and no square-footage figure for a bedroom. What it asks instead is that the child has a space and a surface of their own, and that any sharing has been assessed and written down by someone accountable for it.
How many children can one foster home take?
Up to six, and your own children count. Section 749.951 allows a one-parent or two-parent foster home to care for up to six children, and states plainly that the capacity of a home includes the adopted and biological children living in it, children receiving respite services and children for whom the home provides daycare, with young adults in care counted as well. A family with three children of their own is not a home with six foster placements available.
Where infants are involved the rule tightens. A home caring for infants may still care for up to six children, but with a maximum of two infants and no more than four children under six years old. Section 749.951 also requires the agency to record in the home's file why the home can manage the number allowed, weighing the number of caregivers, the services being provided, the developmental age and medical needs of the children already there and those being placed, and the physical space and bathroom accommodations available.
Seven or eight children is possible and deliberately hard. Under section 749.953 the agency has to recommend it, complete HHSC's Foster Family Home Capacity Exception Form, and request and obtain a variance from Child Care Regulation.
What about a pool, a dog or a gun in the house?
All three are allowed, and each carries conditions. A swimming pool, under section 749.1061, needs a barrier on all sides at least four feet high, and an exterior wall of the home may serve as one side. Gates and other means of access to a pool or hot tub must be secured with a safety device such as a bolt lock and locked when not in use, a throwable flotation device is required, and any door leading from the home to the water needs either a door alarm or a lock only an adult can reach and operate. The bottom of the pool or hot tub must always be visible, and chemicals and machinery rooms must be out of reach of children in care.
Swimming itself is supervised by rule. Section 749.1063 requires a child who cannot swim to wear a personal flotation device that is United States Coast Guard-approved at Type I, II or III, or rated at a buoyancy level of 70 or above, and properly fitted and fastened. Caregivers have to assess a child's swimming skills before the child goes in, and the agency documents how that was checked. Section 749.1065 sets the ratios: one caregiver for each child under two, and at least two caregivers present when four or more children over two are swimming.
Firearms are permitted subject to the agency's policy. Section 749.1031 requires every agency to have and enforce a policy ensuring a child in care has no unsupervised access to weapons, firearms, explosive materials or projectiles, including keeping them in locked storage when not in use. Section 749.1033 requires the agency to weigh the age, history, emotional maturity and background of each child in the home when judging whether storage is adequate, and it expressly states that the agency may not require you to disclose the specific types of firearms in the home. Firearms that are inoperable and solely ornamental are exempt from the storage rule.
Pets are covered by section 749.1011. An animal on the premises must not pose an undue health or safety threat to children in care, caregivers must supervise and intervene as needed to protect a child from animal-related risk, and pets must be vaccinated as state law requires.
What is never allowed as discipline?
Corporal punishment, including spanking or hitting, is prohibited outright. Section 749.1303 gives a child in care the right to be free from harsh, cruel, unusual, unnecessary, demeaning or humiliating treatment or punishment, and then lists what that rules out. A child must not be shaken, must not be subjected to or threatened with corporal punishment, must not be forced to stay outside in excessive heat or cold for excessive periods, and must not be made to do unproductive work that serves no purpose except to demean them.
The list continues into things that are easy to do without thinking. A child must not be denied food, sleep, a bathroom, mail or family visits as punishment, must not be subjected to remarks that belittle or ridicule them or their family, and must not be threatened with the loss of placement or shelter as punishment. Each of those is weighted high. If you are used to parenting with consequences that touch any of them, this is the standard that will require you to change how you parent, and it is the one to think hardest about before applying.
Alongside the prohibitions sits an obligation in the other direction. Section 749.1419 requires a foster parent to let a child in care take part in childhood activities, including unsupervised ones, using the reasonable and prudent parent standard, weighing the child's age, maturity, abilities, developmental level and wishes against the real risks of the activity. The rule expects a normal childhood, not a restricted one.
What happens after the home is verified?
Verification is the start of an ongoing relationship with the agency, not the end of the process. Section 749.1105 requires child placing staff to visit the home at least every three months, and the visits have to happen inside the home. Across a 12-month period, two of those visits must be unannounced, one must have every household member present, and both foster parents, where there are two, must be present for one visit every six months.
Section 749.1103 requires the agency to evaluate the home's compliance with every applicable law and rule once a year, and again whenever there is an allegation of a deficiency, a major life change that invalidates the verification, or a report of family violence at the home from DFPS. HHSC notes that the 2026 rules kept this evaluation but moved it from every two years to annual. Where a deficiency is found, the agency has to write a plan listing what must change, how long the home has, and what happens if it is not corrected, decide whether a child may remain or a new child be placed meanwhile, and then confirm the fix by re-inspecting or obtaining proof.
Where Angelheart fits in
Angelheart is a licensed child-placing agency contracted with DFPS, with foster care, kinship care and adoption programs and offices in Round Rock, North Richland Hills, Temple and San Antonio. Under Chapter 749 the responsibility for all of the above is ours, not yours alone. We complete the screening and the interviews, arrange the health and fire inspections, verify the home, make the quarterly visits and run the annual evaluation. Our own foster parent requirements sit alongside the state standards rather than replacing them, and they include being at least 25 years of age, a Texas resident, and agreeing to abide by our no physical discipline policy.
What we add on top is described on our foster care page as steps and support rather than as promises: quarterly advisory meetings between families and administrative staff, an on-call worker available around the clock, reimbursed respite when a family needs a break, and case managers who stay reachable. If reading the standards has raised a question about your own house, your own household or your own capacity, the honest answer is that it is a conversation rather than a checklist, and any of our four offices will have it with you. You can also read what a child-placing agency is and what the law makes one do.