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Casey Family Programs' Austin Field Office opened in 1984. Our main focus is to help young people from the public child welfare system find safe and permanent families.

We serve the city of Austin and surrounding communities in Central Texas.

Permanency Support Services
We provide services specifically designed to help older youth in the foster care system find a permanent home. Referrals are accepted from Child Protective Services. Services are designed to support permanency planning and may include the following:

• Family Finding
• Family Group Conferencing
• Family Connection and Engagement
• Planning for lifelong connections
• Emotional/mental health supports
• Connecting youth and family to community supports and resources
• Short term financial assistance

Prevention Services
The focus of these services is to prevent children from entering into the foster care system by providing support services and case management for birth parents and relatives. Birth parents and relatives who have responsibility for the care of at-risk children are referred by Child Protective Services.
Additional service may include:

• Budgeting and short-term emergency financial assistance
• Assistance accessing public assistance

Transition Support Services
Services are provided to former foster youth ages 18 to 21 to help establish a permanent connection with birth family and/or significant adults, or achieve legal adoption. Referrals are made by the Independent Living Provider for our Child Protective Services region.
Services provided may include the following:

• Family Finding
• Family Group Conferencing
• Permanent Connections Meeting
• Family Connection and Engagement
• Emotional/Mental Health Spports

Safely reducing the number of children in foster care
Casey Family Programs 2020 Strategy is committed to working with state, county, and tribal child welfare systems in order to safely reduce the number of children in foster care by 50 percent by the year 2020.

Casey's Austin Field Office contributes to this goal locally by:

• Providing services that create safety, permanence and well-being for children and youth
• Engaging in partnerships with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, juvenile court, and other allied community agencies
• Addressing the over-representation of children and youth of color in foster care

We also work to educate state representatives and other policy makers about the importance of safely reducing the number of children in foster care and creating paths to permanency for those who do enter care.