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T3C: What Texas Foster Care Organizations Need to Know
- Jul 17
- 13 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Everything Child Placing Agencies, General Residential Operations, and Residential Treatment Centers need to know about preparing for T3C credentialing.
Table of Contents
What Is Texas Child Centered Care (T3C)?
Why Was Texas Child Centered Care Created?
Who Must Follow T3C?
Why T3C Matters for Foster Care Organizations
Understanding Service Delivery Packages (SDPs)
Evidence-Based Treatment Models in T3C
Understanding Logic Models
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)
The T3C Credentialing Process
Ongoing Compliance and Maintaining Credentialing
Common Challenges Organizations Face
What Successful T3C Organizations Do Differently
How Technology Supports T3C Success
How Rock Solid Foundation Helps
Frequently Asked Questions About Texas Child Centered Care
Start Building Your Organization on a Strong Foundation
Texas foster care is changing, and organizations across the state are learning what Texas Child Centered Care means for their programs, staff, caregivers, documentation, and daily operations. T3C is not a collection of disconnected requirements, instead it is a framework for showing how your organization will consistently deliver the services children need, measure whether those services are working, and improve over time. This guide explains that roadmap in practical terms.
What is Texas Child Centered Care (T3C?)
Texas Child Centered Care, commonly called T3C, is the framework Texas is using to transform how foster care services are assessed, matched, delivered, funded, documented, and evaluated.
T3C replaces the previous Service Level System with:
A universal child assessment and placement process
Twenty four clearly defined Service Packages
Three Add-On Services available through credentialed Child Placing Agencies
A rate methodology connected to the services included in each package
A stronger focus on outcomes, quality improvement, and accountability
At its heart, T3C is intended to better connect each child, youth, or young adult with a provider prepared to meet their individual needs. For foster care organizations, that means being able to demonstrate that the people, services, training, policies, technology, and quality processes described in an application are actually present in day to day practice.
The T3C System Blueprint is DFPS’s primary guide to the framework and the requirements associated with each Service Package and Add On Service. Because DFPS updates the Blueprint quarterly when revisions are needed, organizations should always work from the current edition and review the accompanying change log.
Why was Texas Child Centered Care Created?
T3C was developed as part of the state’s broader transformation of foster care. Under the former system, service expectations and payments were largely connected to an assigned level of care. T3C moves toward clearly defined packages of services based on assessed needs.
DFPS describes the goals of T3C as improving safety, permanency, and well being outcomes while creating a more comprehensive network of quality services. The framework is also designed to:
Match children with providers equipped to meet their needs
Define the services and resources associated with each Service Package
Better align rates with the cost of providing care
Strengthen placement stability and continuity of services
Use data and quality improvement processes to evaluate outcomes
Support children in moving toward the least restrictive setting that safely meets their needs
This is a significant operational change, but it is also a practical opportunity. T3C asks organizations to connect what they believe, what they promise, what their staff do, and what their data shows.
Who Must Follow T3C?
Any organization providing foster care services in Texas will be required to be credentialed by 2027. This includes organizations such as:
DFPS identifies September 2027 as the full implementation phase for T3C, with all providers expected to be transitioned to the new system. The Interim Credential application route closed on January 1, 2026. Providers now seeking to offer a T3C Service Package must prepare for the Full Credentialing process.
September 2027 may sound distant, but credentialing requires much more than completing an application. Organizations may need to revise program design, add permit services, hire or contract with qualified staff, develop training, implement a treatment model, build logic models, update policies, and strengthen case management and reporting systems. Starting early creates room to do that work thoughtfully.
The T3C Credentialing Roadmap
Every organization’s path will look a little different, but a strong T3C readiness process generally follows seven connected stages.
1. Select the right Service Packages
Begin with the needs your program is equipped to meet. Review the population described in each Service Package, the required permit type and services, staffing expectations, treatment requirements, caregiver supports, documentation, and quality measures. The goal is not to apply for the largest possible number of Service Packages. It is to select the packages your organization can deliver with consistency and integrity and services that match your approved license.
2. Align your permit, program, and staffing
Your HHSC Child Care Regulation permit must support the permit type and applicable treatment, programmatic, and special services required for the Service Packages in your application. At the same time, your staffing structure should clearly show who is responsible for clinical oversight, program leadership, case management, nursing or medical functions when applicable, quality assurance, training, supervision, and direct care. Job descriptions, qualifications, contracts, organizational charts, and actual practice should tell the same story.
3. Implement an evidence informed treatment model
Your treatment model should give staff and caregivers a shared, research supported approach to working with children. It should fit the needs of the population served and be integrated into training, supervision, service planning, daily interventions, documentation, and evaluation.
4. Develop a logic model for each Service Package
A logic model explains how your resources and activities are expected to produce measurable results. DFPS requires a separate logic model for each Service Package and Add On Service included in the application.
5. Build the quality and data infrastructure
T3C requires organizations to monitor whether services are being delivered as designed and whether children are experiencing the intended outcomes. This includes a Continuous Quality Assurance and Improvement process, meaningful performance measures, reliable data collection, and a method for turning findings into action.
An electronic case management system is central to this work because the organization must be able to document services, monitor timelines, track outcomes, and report dependable information.
6. Align policies, procedures, and training
Policies should translate each applicable T3C requirement into clear organizational practice. Training should then prepare staff and caregivers to carry out that practice, including training tailored to the Service Packages they will support.
7. Submit, respond and verify
The provider submits the current Full Credential application and supporting documentation through the DFPS Credentialing Platform. Reviewers may request enhancements or clarification. Once the provider meets the requirements applicable at the time of application, DFPS may issue an Inactive Full Credential.
The provider then has up to 120 calendar days to complete any approved items that must be in place before the first day of operation under an Active Full Credential. After DFPS verifies completion and receives the signed T3C Verification Form, the provider may receive an Active Full Credential for the approved Service Packages and Add On Services.
Understanding Service Delivery Packages
One of the biggest changes introduced through T3C is the use of Service Delivery Packages.
DFPS has identified 24 Service Packages across foster family homes, GRO Tier I facilities, and GRO Tier II facilities, along with three Add On Services for CPAs. Each Service Package defines a particular setting and service approach for children, youth, or young adults with identified needs.
Depending on the package, requirements may address:
• The characteristics and needs of the children, youth, or young adults the package is intended to serve
• The services, staffing, caregiver supports, treatment approaches, and other resources that must be available through that package
Depending on the Service Package, requirements may include therapy, assessments, individualized service planning, crisis support, medical care, staff and caregiver qualifications, staffing ratios, care coordination, treatment models, logic models, documentation, and continuous quality assurance and improvement.
Organizations must be credentialed for each Service Package or Add On Service they intend to provide. Credentialing for one package does not automatically authorize an organization to deliver another.
Important: Organizations must be credentialed and approved for each Service Delivery Package before providing those services.
Understanding Evidence Based Treatment Models
Policies provide structure, but meaningful care also requires a consistent approach to understanding and supporting each child. T3C requires credentialed providers to have an evidence informed treatment model specific to their program and Service Packages. This approach helps staff and caregivers provide consistent care while responding to each child’s individual strengths, needs, experiences, and goals.
Organizations can research established evidence based programs through the California Evidence Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare, which provides a searchable registry of programs and information about their supporting research.
These models guide how staff:
Build relationships
Respond to trauma
Address behaviors
Teach life skills
Support emotional regulation
Promote permanency
Measure success
Some commonly utilized treatment models in Texas Foster Care:
Rock Solid Foundation collaborates with OMNI Family Institute to provide Together Facing the Challenge for the organizations who feel it is a good fit for thier organization. Using a treatment model creates consistency across the organization so children receive research-supported care regardless of which staff member is providing services.
Understanding Logic Models
A logic model is a visual explanation of how a program is expected to work. It connects the resources an organization invests with the services it provides and the results it expects to achieve.
A typical logic model connects:
Inputs → Activities → Outputs → Short Term Outcomes → Long Term Outcomes
For example, trained caregivers and clinical staff are inputs. Treatment model based interventions and service planning are activities. Completed sessions or timely reviews may be outputs. Improved stability, functioning, permanency, or well being may be outcomes.
DFPS requires a separate logic model for each Service Package and Add On Service. These models should not be generic copies with the package name changed. Each one should reflect the specific population, services, requirements, and intended outcomes of that package.
Your logic models also need to connect with your treatment model and quality process. If the application describes one set of outcomes while the CQI plan measures something entirely different, reviewers may have difficulty seeing how the program fits together.
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is one of the cornerstones of T3C. DFPS uses the term Continuous Quality Assurance and Improvement, or CQI, to describe the structured process for monitoring service quality and improving outcomes. Instead of waiting until problems occur, CQI evaluates performance and improve services.
A healthy CQI process asks questions such as:
Are children achieving better outcomes?
Is our organization meeting performance expectations?
What trends are emerging?
Where are gaps occurring, if any?
How can our organization improve?
Organizations may monitor indicators such as placement stability, critical incidents, permanency outcomes, service plan timeliness, staff and caregiver turnover, training completion, documentation quality, length of stay, discharge patterns, and treatment outcomes. CQI becomes the engine that drives organizational excellence.
Electronic Case Management and Data Readiness
T3C expects providers to collect, maintain, evaluate, and report more structured information. An electronic case management system helps turn those expectations into repeatable workflows.
The system should support your organization’s ability to:
Document required services and contacts
Build and monitor individualized service plans
Track Service Package requirements and timelines
Record treatment model related interventions
Support Continued Stay Guidelines reviews
Monitor staff and caregiver training
Track child, program, and workforce outcomes
Identify missing or late documentation
Produce reliable reports for leadership, CQAI, and credential reporting
Technology alone does not create compliance. The forms, workflows, permissions, staff training, and reporting structure must all reflect the way your organization actually operates. The best time to identify gaps is before application submission, not after a reviewer asks for evidence you cannot easily produce. Rock Solid Foundation provides an Electronic Case Management System called CaseBook that is designed for Texas and compliant with T3C.
Policies, Procedures, and Service Package Specific Training
T3C policies and procedures should make the Blueprint operational. They should clearly explain who is responsible, what must happen, when it must happen, how it is documented, and how the organization should verify their completion.
Providers should review the requirements associated with each selected Service Package and ensure that related policies address areas such as:
Admissions, assessment, and service planning
Treatment model implementation
Child and family engagement
Staffing, supervision, and on call coverage
Required clinical, medical, and support services
Continued Stay Guidelines
Quality assurance and improvement
Foster home credentialing, when applicable
Documentation and data management
Training, competency, and ongoing development
Training should prepare each role to carry out those policies. For Full Credential applications, CPAs must submit the Service Package specific foster parent training curriculum with the application, although physical completion of that training may occur during the Inactive Full Credential period when permitted by DFPS.
Application Submission and Review
Full Credentialing is the process of submitting an application and supporting documents through the T3C Credentialing Platform so DFPS can determine whether if a CPA, GRO or RTC meets the qualifications to offer the requested Service Packages or Add On Services.
Before submitting:
Confirm that you are using the current application version
Confirm that your permit supports the requested packages
Review every attachment for consistency
Remove all personally identifiable information and child personally identifiable information
Make sure policies, staffing, training, treatment models, logic models, and CQAI measures align
Submit one application per permitted GRO facility, while CPAs generally submit one credentialing application rather than separate applications for each branch
Youth for Tomorrow supports DFPS with clinical review of aspects of credentialing, particularly the integration of treatment models and logic models. DFPS Credentialing Analysts review and verify the broader application materials and make credentialing determinations. In practice, organizations should prepare for the application to be reviewed as one connected program, not as isolated documents.
Reviewers may return an application for enhancements. That is not unusual. Clear, complete, and consistent responses can prevent repeated review cycles. When one document changes, check every related policy, training, logic model, job description, and application response before resubmitting.
Once DFPS determines that the provider has met the requirements due at application, an Inactive Full Credential may be issued. The provider then has up to 120 calendar days to complete approved remaining requirements, submit evidence, and sign the T3C Verification Form before activation.
An application or credential does not itself guarantee a contract with DFPS or an SSCC. Contracting and network needs remain separate considerations.
Maintaining an Active Full Credential
Credentialing is not the finish line. It confirms that an organization has built the systems necessary to provide the approved services, and those systems must remain active.
An Active Full Credential is generally issued for:
Four years for CPA Foster Family Home Service Packages and Add On Services
Three years for GRO Service Packages
During the active period, providers must maintain model fidelity and comply with applicable requirements. DFPS also requires an annual T3C System Credential Report with data related to areas such as workforce, turnover, tenure, admissions, discharges, average length of stay, and outcomes.
Organizations should continue to monitor:
Policy and Blueprint updates
Permit and staffing requirements
Staff and caregiver training
Treatment model fidelity
Documentation quality and timeliness
Child and program outcomes
CQI activities and improvement plans
Annual reporting requirements
Credentialing demonstrates that your organization has the systems, staffing, documentation, and operational framework necessary to deliver approved services. Although each organization's journey differs, the process generally includes several major phases.
Common Challenges Organizations Face
Every organization entering T3C encounters obstacles. The most common include:
Choosing too many Service Packages
More packages are not automatically better. Each one brings requirements that must be supported through staffing, training, services, policies, documentation, and data.
Treating the application as a writing project
A polished application cannot compensate for systems that are not operational. Reviewers need to see that the written program matches actual capacity and practice.
Using disconnected documents
The treatment model, logic model, policies, job descriptions, training, service planning, and CQAI plan should reinforce one another. Contradictions often lead to enhancement requests.
Underestimating technology and reporting needs
Organizations may know what they want to measure but lack a dependable way to capture it. Data fields, workflows, staff responsibilities, and reporting should be designed together.
Waiting too long
Permit changes, hiring, model implementation, curriculum development, policy approval, and technology configuration all take time. With statewide implementation scheduled for September 2027, early preparation matters.
What Successful T3C Organizations Do Differently
Organizations that are well prepared for T3C tend to:
Choose Service Packages based on real capacity and community need
Involve clinical, operational, training, quality, and technology leaders early
Build one connected program rather than separate compliance documents
Train staff on both the requirements and the purpose behind them
Test workflows before submitting the application
Use CQAI findings to support staff and strengthen care
Treat credentialing as the beginning of accountable service delivery
Most importantly, they remember that every policy, workflow, and data point should support better care for a real child. That keeps the work grounded when the application itself begins to feel complicated.
How Rock Solid Foundation Helps
Rock Solid Foundation partners with organizations throughout every stage of the T3C credentialing journey.
Our consultants assist with:
Program development
Service Delivery Package creation
Logic model development
Evidence-based treatment model implementation
Policy and procedure development
Credentialing preparation
Enhancement responses
Operational planning
With a 100% success rate and more than 35% higher approval rates than all other submitted applications combined, Rock Solid Foundation provides organization with the ease of knowledge and support when an organization submits thier T3C application.
CaseBook® is an Electronic Case Management software designed specifically for Texas foster care organizations. It is T3C Compliant, and saves time, energy and duplicated work.
Manage documentation
Support T3C compliance
Track child outcomes
Improve staff accountability
Simplify reporting
Reduce administrative workload
Learn more about CaseBook's compliance and features.
Some organizations need more than just T3C consulting. Organizations who are thinking far ahead, and want to be successful in every aspect of thier organization recieve strategic support from Rock Solid Foundation. Our Full Service approach combines consulting, operational support, technology, financial support, T3C credentialing consulting, implementation, and long-term partnership to help organizations build sustainable systems that continue growing long after credentialing is complete.
Frequently Asked Questions About Texas Child Centered Care
What does T3C stand for?
T3C stands for Texas Child Centered Care, the statewide model used to organize and deliver foster care services in Texas. It is Texas’s framework for assessing, matching, funding, delivering, and evaluating foster care services through defined Service Packages.
Is T3C required?
Yes. By September of 2027, all Foster Care Organizations in Texas are required to comply with T3C regulations and polciies. Organizations seeking to provide services within Texas's Community-Based Care system should understand and meet T3C requirements applicable to the services they intend to deliver.
What is a Service Package?
A Service Package defines the services, staffing, treatment approach, documentation, and expected outcomes for a specific type of foster care program. Organizations must be credentialed for each Service Delivery Package they provide.
Does every Service Package need its own logic model?
Yes. DFPS requires a separate logic model for each Service Package and each Add On Service included in the application.
What is the role of Youth for Tomorrow in T3C credentialing?
Youth for Tomorrow assists DFPS by applying clinical assessment expertise to aspects of credentialing, including the integration of treatment models and logic models. DFPS Credentialing Analysts remain responsible for reviewing and verifying application materials and issuing credential determinations.
How long does T3C credentialing take?
DFPS does not promise one standard review timeline. Timing depends on organizational readiness, the Service Packages requested, application quality, reviewer workload, priority capacity needs, and the number of enhancement cycles. Organizations should plan for credentialing as a multistage process rather than assuming approval within a fixed number of weeks.
Start Building Your Organization on a Strong Foundation
Whether you're starting a new foster care organization, preparing for T3C credentialing, expanding your Service Delivery Packages, or strengthening an existing program, success begins with building systems that support children, staff, and long-term organizational growth.
The organizations that succeed aren't simply checking compliance boxes. They're creating sustainable programs designed to deliver consistent, high-quality care while adapting to the evolving needs of Texas foster care.
If you're preparing for Texas Child Centered Care, Rock Solid Foundation can help you navigate the process with confidence, from program design and credentialing to technology, compliance, and long-term operational success.
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