81R1283 MCK-D
By: Nelson S.B. No. 69
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to child protective services.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 264, Family Code, is
amended by adding Section 264.015 to read as follows:
Sec. 264.015. COLOCATION OF CERTAIN EMPLOYEES. (a) In this
section, "conservatorship services" has the meaning assigned by
Section 264.106.
(b) To the extent feasible, the department shall contract
with child-placing agencies throughout the state for the
child-placing agencies to provide office space for department
employees who provide conservatorship services and employees who
perform licensing functions.
SECTION 2. Section 264.101(d), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission may adopt rules that establish criteria and
guidelines for the payment of foster care, including medical care,
for a child and for providing care for a child after the child
becomes 18 years of age if the child is regularly attending an
institution of higher education or a vocational or technical
program. The criteria and guidelines for the payment of foster care
must ensure that foster care providers whose foster children
achieve and maintain the progress goals set under each child's
individualized treatment or service plan are paid a higher rate
than foster care providers whose foster children fail to achieve or
maintain the progress goals.
SECTION 3. Sections 264.106(c) and (e), Family Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(c) The department shall develop a pilot program for the
competitive procurement of case management services in one or more
geographic areas of the state. The department shall contract with
one or more substitute care providers to provide case management
services under the pilot program. The department shall have a goal
of privatizing case management services in 10 [five] percent of the
cases in which the department has been appointed temporary or
permanent managing conservator of a child.
(e) In addition to the requirements of Section 40.058(b),
Human Resources Code, a contract authorized under this section must
include provisions that:
(1) enable the department to monitor the effectiveness
of the services;
(2) specify performance outcomes;
(3) authorize the department to terminate the contract
or impose sanctions for a violation of a provision of the contract
that specifies performance criteria;
(4) ensure that a private agency that is providing
substitute care or case management services for a child shall
provide to the child's attorney ad litem and guardian ad litem
access to the agency's information and records relating to the
child;
(5) authorize the department, an agent of the
department, and the state auditor to inspect all books, records,
and files maintained by a contractor relating to the contract;
[and]
(6) the department determines are necessary to ensure
accountability for the delivery of services and for the expenditure
of public funds; and
(7) ensure that a private agency that is providing
case management services for a child:
(A) uses relative caregivers, as defined by
Section 264.751, whenever possible; and
(B) provides family-based safety services, as
described by department rule.
SECTION 4. Section 264.1075, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) The department may not reassess the substitute care
placement of a child identified as requiring specialized or
intense-level services, as described by department rule, more often
than once every six months.
SECTION 5. Subchapter B, Chapter 264, Family Code, is
amended by adding Sections 264.119 and 264.120 to read as follows:
Sec. 264.119. NOTICE OF CHANGE OF PLACEMENT. (a) Except in
the case of an emergency, the department must provide written
notice to the substitute care provider and any child-placing agency
involved with the child before the department may change the
child's substitute care provider.
(b) The department must provide the notice required under
Subsection (a) not later than the fifth day before the date the
child's substitute care provider is changed.
Sec. 264.120. EXIT INTERVIEW. (a) The department shall
adopt a policy that provides for an exit interview of each foster
parent who decides to leave the foster care system.
(b) The department shall encourage the foster parent to
state in the foster parent's own words the reasons why the foster
parent decided to leave the foster care system.
(c) Not later than December 1 of each odd-numbered year, the
department shall submit a report summarizing the results of the
exit interviews to the speaker of the house of representatives, the
lieutenant governor, the House Human Services Committee or its
successor, and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee or
its successor.
SECTION 6. Section 264.121, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) The department shall ensure that each individual
enrolled in the Preparation for Adult Living Program receives
information about the community resources that are available in the
county in which the individual resides to assist the individual in
obtaining employment, job training, educational services, housing,
food, and health care.
SECTION 7. Subchapter B, Chapter 264, Family Code, is
amended by adding Section 264.123 to read as follows:
Sec. 264.123. FOSTER PARENT MENTORS. The department shall
establish a program under which the foster parents of a child
provide mentoring services to the child's parents to assist the
child's parents in complying with the terms of the service plan.
SECTION 8. Sections 42.0221(d), (e), and (f), Human
Resources Code, are amended to read as follows:
(d) The committee shall meet three times [twice] a year at
the call of the presiding officer. At least one meeting each year
must provide an opportunity for public testimony.
(e) The committee shall review and analyze the information
provided by the department and committee members and shall make
recommendations for policy and statutory changes relating to
licensing standards and facility inspections. The review and
analysis by the committee shall include the analysis of:
(1) the deaths of children who are in substitute care,
including reports and findings of child fatality review teams under
Subchapter F, Chapter 264, Family Code;
(2) the types of licensing violations for each
weighted risk and region;
(3) the details of administrative reviews and appeals;
[and]
(4) the type of technical assistance provided and the
qualifications of those providing technical assistance; and
(5) the ways the licensing requirements for substitute
care providers impair the department's ability to recruit and
retain substitute care providers.
(f) The committee shall report its findings and
recommendations to the department and the legislature not later
than September [December] 1 of each year.
SECTION 9. Section 45.002(a), Human Resources Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Not later than September 1, 2011 [2008], the department
shall contract with one or more providers of case management
services in one or more geographic areas of the state as provided by
Section 264.106, Family Code, with a goal of contracting for those
services in 10 [five] percent of the cases in this state.
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.