Office of Consumer Affairs
DFPS takes complaints seriously. The Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) handles complaints and legislative inquiries about DFPS programs and addresses the concerns of DFPS clients, their families, other stakeholders, and the public in a fair and unbiased way. OCA validated 31.1 percent of the 4,652 complaints it handled in FY 2016. OCA shared the results of its reviews with DFPS managers to help them improve the quality of services. OCA also fielded 12,564 general inquiries and 803 legislative inquiries.
OCA actively reached out to foster parents and both current and former foster youth to make them aware of its services. As a result, OCA received 176 complaints from foster parents, 64 from youth in foster care, and 14 from former foster youth. As part of HHS Transformation, the newly created Foster Care Ombudsman at the Health and Human Services Commission's Office of the Ombudsman took over the duty of handling complaints from foster youth on May 2, 2016.
You can contact the Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) toll free at 800-720-7777, by email, or through the DFPS website's Contact Us page.