The Statewide Behavioral Health Coordinating Council released the Children’s Behavioral Health Strategic Plan in December 2024, containing more than 30 recommendations for improving children’s behavioral health in Texas. According to a recent report from Texans Care for Children, an advocacy organization, lawmakers took steps to partially or fully implement less than a third of these recommendations during the 2025 legislative session.
YES Waiver Program Faces Funding Cuts
One of the most critical issues identified was a cut to the Youth Empowerment Services (YES) waiver, a Medicaid program designed to help Texas “children and youth with serious mental, emotional and behavioral difficulties.” The legislature cut $1.3 million from the YES waiver program despite rising demand. Inquiries for YES waiver services increased 43% between 2021 and 2023, yet the number of children enrolled decreased by almost 20% during the same period. Nearly 900 children were left waiting for services, and the waiver lost almost 400 providers between 2020 and 2023.
According to Muna Javaid, senior policy associate for child protection with Texans Care for Children, six percent of Texas youth are entering the foster care system due to unmet mental health services or care. “To avoid institutionalization or youth entering the juvenile justice system or the foster system, the more that we support and fund these community-based services, the less likely that that will be the outcome,” Javaid said.
Limited Progress on Investments
The legislature did invest an additional $40 million for mobile youth crisis outreach teams, doubling the number from eight teams to 16. The legislature also invested $32.7 million in multi-systemic therapy, an internationally recognized intervention for children at risk of entering the juvenile justice system. However, this funding only partially fulfilled the strategic plan’s recommendation—Texas currently has 23 multi-systemic therapy teams, while meeting statewide demand would require 140 teams.
Several recommendations from the 2024 strategic plan remain unaddressed, including Medicaid coverage for community-based services, strengthening the behavioral health workforce, and making crisis services available 24/7. Javaid expressed hope that YES waiver funding reinstatement will be a priority for the legislature in 2027.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.keranews.org/health-wellness/2026-02-17/texas-legislature-children-behavioral-health-recommendations-statewide-coordinating-council