81R3784 MCK-F
By: Rose H.B. No. 2443
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to benefits and services for children in the
conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective
Services.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 54.211, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 54.211. EXEMPTIONS FOR STUDENTS IN FOSTER OR OTHER
RESIDENTIAL CARE. (a) A student is exempt from the payment of
tuition and fees authorized in this chapter if the student:
(1) was in [foster care or other residential care
under] the conservatorship of the Department of Family and
Protective Services [on or after]:
(A) on the day preceding the student's 18th
birthday;
(B) on or after the day of the student's 14th
birthday, if the student was also eligible for adoption on or after
that day; [or]
(C) on the day the student graduated from high
school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma; or
(D) on the day preceding:
(i) the date the student is adopted; or
(ii) the date permanent managing
conservatorship of the student is awarded to a person other than the
student's parent; and
(2) enrolls in an institution of higher education as
an undergraduate student not later than [:
[(A) the third anniversary of the date the
student was discharged from the foster or other residential care,
the date the student graduated from high school, or the date the
student received the equivalent of a high school diploma, whichever
date is earliest; or
[(B)] the student's 25th [21st] birthday.
(b) The Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board shall develop outreach programs to
ensure that students in the conservatorship of the Department of
Family and Protective Services and [foster or other residential
care] in grades 9-12 are aware of the availability of the exemption
from the payment of tuition and fees provided by this section.
SECTION 2. Section 261.312(b), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) A review team consists of at least five members who
serve staggered two-year terms. Review team members are appointed
by the director of the department and consist of volunteers who live
in and are broadly representative of the region in which the review
team is established and have expertise in the prevention and
treatment of child abuse and neglect. At least two members of a
review team [community representatives and private citizens who
live in the region for which the team is established. Each member]
must be parents [a parent] who have [has] not been convicted of or
indicted for an offense involving child abuse or neglect, have
[has] not been determined by the department to have engaged in child
abuse or neglect, and are [or is] not under investigation by the
department for child abuse or neglect. A member of a review team is
a department volunteer for the purposes of Section 411.114,
Government Code.
SECTION 3. Section 263.3025, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) In accordance with department rules, a child's
permanency plan must include concurrent permanency goals
consisting of a primary permanency goal and at least one alternate
permanency goal.
SECTION 4. Subchapter D, Chapter 263, Family Code, is
amended by adding Section 263.3026 to read as follows:
Sec. 263.3026. LIMITATION ON CERTAIN PERMANENCY GOALS. The
department's permanency plan for a child may not include as a goal
the continuation of the department as the child's permanent
managing conservator until the date the child reaches adulthood
unless that goal is in the best interest of the child.
SECTION 5. Section 263.303(b), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The permanency progress report must:
(1) recommend that the suit be dismissed; or
(2) recommend that the suit continue, and:
(A) identify the date for dismissal of the suit
under this chapter;
(B) provide:
(i) the name of any person entitled to
notice under Chapter 102 who has not been served;
(ii) a description of the efforts by the
department or another agency to locate and request service of
citation; and
(iii) a description of each parent's
assistance in providing information necessary to locate an unserved
party;
(C) evaluate the parties' compliance with
temporary orders and with the service plan;
(D) evaluate whether the child's placement in
substitute care meets the child's needs and recommend other plans
or services to meet the child's special needs or circumstances;
(E) describe the permanency plan for the child
and recommend actions necessary to ensure that a final order
consistent with that permanency plan, including the concurrent
permanency goals contained in that plan, is rendered before the
date for dismissal of the suit under this chapter; and
(F) with respect to a child 16 years of age or
older, identify the services needed to assist the child in the
transition to adult life.
SECTION 6. Section 263.306(b), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The court shall also review the service plan, permanency
report, and other information submitted at the hearing to:
(1) determine:
(A) the safety of the child;
(B) the continuing necessity and appropriateness
of the placement;
(C) the extent of compliance with the case plan;
[and]
(D) the extent of progress that has been made
toward alleviating or mitigating the causes necessitating the
placement of the child in foster care; and
(E) whether the department has made reasonable
efforts to finalize the permanency plan that is in effect for the
child, including the concurrent permanency goals for the child; and
(2) project a likely date by which the child may be
returned to and safely maintained in the child's home, placed for
adoption, or placed in permanent managing conservatorship.
SECTION 7. Section 263.502, Family Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
follows:
(c) The placement review report must identify the
department's permanency goal for the child and must:
(1) evaluate whether the child's current placement is
appropriate for meeting the child's needs;
(2) evaluate whether efforts have been made to ensure
placement of the child in the least restrictive environment
consistent with the best interest and special needs of the child if
the child is placed in institutional care;
(3) contain a transition [discharge] plan for a child
who is at least 16 years of age that identifies the services and
specific tasks that are needed to assist the child in making the
transition from substitute care to adult living and describes the
services that are being provided [available] through the
Transitional Living Services [Preparation for Adult Living]
Program operated by the department;
(4) evaluate whether the child's current educational
placement is appropriate for meeting the child's academic needs;
(5) identify other plans or services that are needed
to meet the child's special needs or circumstances; [and]
(6) describe the efforts of the department or
authorized agency to place the child for adoption if parental
rights to the child have been terminated and the child is eligible
for adoption, including efforts to provide adoption promotion and
support services as defined by 42 U.S.C. Section 629a and other
efforts consistent with the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act
of 1997 (Pub. L. No. 105-89); and
(7) describe the department's efforts to place the
child with a permanent managing conservator other than the
department if the child is not eligible for adoption.
(d) If the department's permanency goal for the child is to
continue the department as the child's permanent managing
conservator until the date the child reaches adulthood, the
placement review report must document that this goal is in the best
interest of the child.
SECTION 8. Section 263.503, Family Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 263.503. PLACEMENT REVIEW HEARINGS; PROCEDURE. At
each placement review hearing, the court shall determine whether:
(1) the child's current placement is necessary, safe,
and appropriate for meeting the child's needs, including with
respect to a child placed outside of the state, whether the
placement continues to be appropriate and in the best interest of
the child;
(2) efforts have been made to ensure placement of the
child in the least restrictive environment consistent with the best
interest and special needs of the child if the child is placed in
institutional care;
(3) the services that are needed to assist a child who
is at least 16 years of age in making the transition from substitute
care to independent living are available in the community;
(4) other plans or services are needed to meet the
child's special needs or circumstances;
(5) the department or authorized agency has exercised
due diligence in attempting to:
(A) place the child for adoption if parental
rights to the child have been terminated and the child is eligible
for adoption; or
(B) place the child with a permanent managing
conservator other than the department if the child is not eligible
for adoption; [and]
(6) it is in the child's best interest to continue the
department as permanent managing conservator until the date the
child reaches adulthood, if that is the department's permanency
plan for the child; and
(7) the department or authorized agency has made
reasonable efforts to finalize the permanency plan that is in
effect for the child.
SECTION 9. (a) The changes in law made by this Act to
Section 54.211, Education Code, apply beginning with tuition and
fees imposed by a public institution of higher education for the
2009 fall semester. Tuition and fees for a term or semester before
the 2009 fall semester are covered by the law in effect immediately
before the effective date of this Act, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
(b) The changes in law made by this Act to Section 54.211,
Education Code, apply only to a child who is in the conservatorship
of the Department of Family and Protective Services on or after the
effective date of this Act. A child who left the conservatorship of
the Department of Family and Protective Services before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the child left the department's conservatorship, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect immediately if it
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2009.