Fostering teens and sibling groups in Texas is where the need is largest and the number of willing homes is smallest. On August 31, 2025, DFPS counted 3,889 young people age 13 or older in state care, and 1,608 sibling groups not placed all together. A family in San Antonio, Round Rock, Temple or the Fort Worth area that can take a teenager, or several children at once, is answering a different question from a family waiting for an infant. This post sets out what the state records about those children, what a teenager in care is entitled to, and what the rules say about keeping brothers and sisters together.
How many teenagers are in foster care in Texas?
DFPS data on the Texas Open Data Portal records 27,343 children in DFPS legal responsibility at some point during fiscal year 2025, and 5,896 of them were 13 or older. In Bexar County alone, 748 of the 3,148 children in care that year were teenagers. On the single day of August 31, 2025, the statewide count was 17,623 children in care, 3,889 of them 13 or older.
The number that should stay with you is the exit. In fiscal year 2025, 772 young people left DFPS custody through youth emancipation, which means they turned 18 in care without a family to go to. In Bexar County that was 118 young people. Reunification remains the first goal in every case and most children do go home or to relatives; the ones who age out are the ones for whom no family was found in time.
What is a teenager in foster care entitled to?
More than most people assume, and the list is DFPS's own. The rights of children and youth in foster care include the right to take part in childhood activities appropriate to their age and maturity, including unsupervised extracurricular activities and foster family activities; the right to live with their siblings who are also in care if possible, and to know why if they are not; the right to go to court hearings and speak to the judge about where they are living and what they want to happen; the right, from age 14, to a plan that includes transition activities for life as an adult; and the right, from 16, to attend Preparation for Adult Living classes.
A foster parent's part in that list is the everyday one: the prom, the part-time job and the friend's house are decisions a foster family makes, and an ordinary life while in care is the point of a home rather than a facility.
What does the state provide from age 16?
Preparation for Adult Living, which DFPS says was implemented in 1986 to make sure older youth are prepared for their departure from state care. It is for youth 16 and older who are likely to remain in care until at least 18, and services can run to 21. DFPS lists life skills assessment and training in health and safety, housing, transportation, job readiness, financial management, life decisions and relationships, a Transitional Living Allowance of up to $1,000 paid in increments of no more than $500 a month, and Aftercare Room and Board Assistance of up to $500 a month with a $3,000 cap for young adults who aged out. DFPS states that at any given time there are about 3,500 youth 16 and older in substitute care.
Care does not have to end at 18 either. DFPS describes Extended Foster Care as a voluntary program that lets young adults turning 18 in DFPS care continue their placement while they finish high school or a GED, attend college, take part in a program that removes barriers to employment, or work at least 80 hours a month. Court jurisdiction runs no later than the month of the 21st birthday, a young adult who leaves can return until 21 if they meet the conditions, and a foster home is one of the settings it can happen in. The state college tuition waiver in Texas Education Code section 54.366 then waives tuition and fees at state-supported colleges for youth currently or formerly in DFPS conservatorship, with enrollment before age 27.
What are the rules on keeping siblings together?
Together is the rule and separation has to be justified. The DFPS CPS Handbook, section 4114.2, states that under federal law DFPS must make reasonable efforts to place siblings together unless DFPS or the community contractor documents that doing so is contrary to the safety or well-being of one of the siblings, citing 42 U.S.C. section 671(a)(31). When siblings are separated, the caseworker must revisit the decision at every permanency planning meeting and before each court hearing.
The reason the rule needs a home to point to is in the numbers. On August 31, 2025, DFPS counted 3,809 sibling groups in substitute care across Texas: 2,201 placed all together and 1,608 not. Of those groups, 1,993 were pairs and 1,816 were three or more children. In Bexar County, 463 sibling groups were in care, 270 together and 193 apart. Room is the practical limit: DFPS foster home rules allow up to six children in a home, counting the family's own, with adequate sleeping space for each.
What if adoption becomes the plan?
Those are the children the state's adoption assistance program exists for. DFPS says a child qualifies as having special needs, for that program, if at least one condition applies, and two of the conditions are being at least six years old and being adopted with or to join a sibling. The benefits DFPS lists are Medicaid, reimbursement of 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 has to be signed before the adoption is granted.
Where Angelheart fits in
Angelheart especially seeks families with a heart for older children, sibling groups and children with special needs, and our adoption page says so plainly, alongside the reminder that reunification is prioritized and sometimes cannot be reached. The practical requirements are on our requirements page: an available bedroom of at least 80 square feet for the foster child, the required hours of foster parent training, and agreement to the no physical discipline policy.
What the agency adds is the support that makes a teenage placement hold: trauma-informed training before the first placement, a caseworker who knows the family, and an on-call worker available 24 hours a day. Those are steps and support, never a promise. If you have room for a teenager, or for brothers and sisters together, start an inquiry and the office nearest you will reach out.