Texas Permanency Outcomes Project (TXPOP)

Project Overview

The Texas Permanency Outcomes Project (TXPOP) developed sustainable best practices utilized by child welfare agencies across Texas to connect children to their birth families, regardless of their permanency outcome. TXPOP was a project of the Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing and the Texas Center for Child and Family Studies, in collaboration with the federal Children’s Bureau, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, and the Children’s Commission.

Our Vision

The Texas Permanency Outcomes Project aimed to build shared power with children and families to reinvent foster care.

Our Mission

TXPOP refocused practice, strengthening the workforce, and transforming how systems treat families and children within foster care.

Our Three-Pronged Approach

The TXPOP Practice Model
Texas Permanency Outcomes Project (txpop)


TXPOP developed and tested a practice model for public and private child welfare agencies in Texas to use to engage children and their families in achieving positive permanency outcomes. This model encourages professionals to approach their work and interactions with others from a nonjudgemental stance with a goal of sharing power with families.

Statewide Capacity Building
Texas Permanency Outcomes Project (txpop)


TXPOP developed and tested a practice model for public and private child welfare agencies in Texas to use to engage children and their families in achieving positive permanency outcomes. This model encourages professionals to approach their work and interactions with others from a nonjudgemental stance with a goal of sharing power with families.

System Engagement
Texas Permanency Outcomes Project (txpop)


TXPOP developed and tested a practice model for public and private child welfare agencies in Texas to use to engage children and their families in achieving positive permanency outcomes. This model encourages professionals to approach their work and interactions with others from a nonjudgemental stance with a goal of sharing power with families.

Our Glossary of Terms *

Practitioners: An all-inclusive term for child welfare and child protection professionals such as case managers in child placing agencies, Department of Family and Protective Services caseworkers, and Single Source Continuum Contractor caseworkers.

Caregivers: Anyone caring for the child while they are in foster care, such as foster parents and kinship caregivers.

Families: The people who have been raising the child prior to entering foster care such as parents, grandparents, extended relatives, or fictive kin.

Learn More About TXPOP

TXPOP refocused practice, strengthening the workforce, and transforming how systems treat families within foster care. Learn more about the 3-pronged approach:

TXPOP One Pager Image

Find more information about the TXPOP Practice Model at the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services.

This project was completed in 2023. Please contact the Principal Investigator with any questions.

Project Staff

Monica Faulkner, Ph.D., LMSW, DirectorMonica Faulkner, Ph.D., LMSW, DirectorPrincipal Investigator
Samantha Zuniga Thompson, LCSW-S, Director of Capacity BuildingSamantha Zuniga Thompson, LCSW-S, Director of Capacity BuildingProgram Coordinator
Cassandra Mendoza, MA, Training SpecialistCassandra Mendoza, MA, Training SpecialistProgram Coordinator
Laura Marra, MSSW, Director of Research and EvaluationLaura Marra, MSSW, Director of Research and EvaluationResearch Supervisor

Project Publications

Project Blogs