By: Nelson, Davis S.B. No. 69
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to child protective services and foster care.
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 may 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, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (g) and (h) to read as follows:
(g) The department shall study the feasibility of
implementing a financial incentive program to encourage foster
children to achieve and maintain the progress goals set under each
child's individualized treatment or service plan. At a minimum,
the study must include an analysis of the cost, benefits, and types
of incentives that would be of value to foster children. Not later
than December 1, 2010, the department shall report its findings and
recommendations to the speaker of the house of representatives, the
lieutenant governor, the House Human Services Committee or its
successor, and the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services or
its successor. This subsection expires January 1, 2011.
(h) The commission shall coordinate with the department to
study the feasibility of making changes to the foster care
assessment, placement, and reimbursement methodologies to improve
outcomes for children in foster care. At a minimum, the study must
include an analysis of those children who are classified as needing
the highest level of care, an analysis of the ways in which children
can be effectively assessed and placed in substitute care with the
least impact to the child and substitute care provider during any
change of placement, and an estimate of the amount of money
necessary to implement the proposed changes. Not later than
September 1, 2010, the commission shall report its findings and
recommendations to the speaker of the house of representatives, the
lieutenant governor, the House Human Services Committee or its
successor, and the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services or
its successor. The department shall consider recommendations from
the report required under this subsection when developing the
department's request for legislative appropriations to be
considered by the 82nd Legislature. This subsection expires
January 1, 2011.
SECTION 3. 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 or as otherwise provided by a court
order, 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 SURVEY. (a) The department shall adopt
a policy that provides for an exit survey 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 surveys to the speaker of the house of representatives, the
lieutenant governor, the House Human Services Committee or its
successor, and the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services or
its successor.
SECTION 4. 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 intends to reside to assist the
individual in obtaining employment, job training, educational
services, housing, food, and health care. If there are no community
resources available in the county in which the individual intends
to reside, the department shall ensure that the individual receives
information about any community resources that are available in the
surrounding counties.
SECTION 5. 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 may
provide mentoring services to the child's parents to assist the
child's parents in complying with the terms of the service plan.
SECTION 6. Subchapter A, Chapter 263, Family Code, is
amended by adding Section 263.007 to read as follows:
Sec. 263.007. FOSTER CHILDREN'S BILL OF RIGHTS. (a) In
this section:
(1) "Agency foster group home," "agency foster home,"
"facility," "foster group home," and "foster home" have the
meanings assigned by Section 42.002, Human Resources Code.
(2) "Foster care" means the placement of a child who is
in the conservatorship of the department or an authorized agency
and in care outside the child's home in an agency foster group home,
agency foster home, foster group home, foster home, or another
facility licensed or certified under Chapter 42, Human Resources
Code, in which care is provided for 24 hours a day.
(3) "Foster children's bill of rights" means a list of
rights described by Subsection (b).
(b) It is the policy of this state that each child in foster
care be informed of the child's rights under state or federal law or
policy that relate to:
(1) abuse, neglect, exploitation, discrimination, and
harassment;
(2) food, clothing, shelter, and education;
(3) medical, dental, vision, and mental health
services, including when the child may have the right to consent to
treatment;
(4) emergency behavior intervention, including what
methods are permitted and not permitted, when emergency behavior
intervention may be used, precautions that caregivers must take
before, during, and after implementing emergency behavior
intervention;
(5) placement with siblings and contacts with members
of the child's family;
(6) privacy, including storage space, searches, mail,
and telephone conversations;
(7) participation in school-related extracurricular
or community activities;
(8) interactions with persons outside of the foster
care system, including teachers, church members, mentors, and
friends;
(9) contact and communication with a caseworker,
attorney ad litem, guardian ad litem, and court-appointed special
advocate;
(10) religious services and activities;
(11) confidentiality of the child's records;
(12) job skills, personal finances, and preparation
for adulthood;
(13) participation in court hearings that involve the
child;
(14) participation in the development of service and
treatment plans;
(15) the advocacy and protection of rights of a child
with a disability; and
(16) any other subject affecting the child's ability
to receive care and treatment in the least restrictive environment
that is most like a family setting, consistent with the best
interests and needs of the child.
(c) The department shall provide a written copy of the
foster children's bill of rights to each child placed in foster care
in the child's primary language, if possible, and shall inform the
child of the rights provided by the foster children's bill of
rights:
(1) orally in the child's primary language, if
possible, and in simple, nontechnical terms; or
(2) for a child who has a disability, including an
impairment of vision or hearing, through any means that can
reasonably be expected to result in successful communication with
the child.
(d) A child placed in foster care may, at the child's
option, sign a document acknowledging the child's understanding of
the foster children's bill of rights after the department provides
a written copy of the foster children's bill of rights to the child
and informs the child of the rights provided by that bill of rights
in accordance with Subsection (c). If a child signs a document
acknowledging the child's understanding of the foster children's
bill of rights, the document must be placed in the child's case
file.
(e) An agency foster group home, agency foster home, foster
group home, foster home, or other facility in which a child is
placed in foster care shall provide a copy of the foster children's
bill of rights to a child on the child's request. The foster
children's bill of rights must be printed in English and in a second
language.
(f) The department shall promote the participation of
foster children and former foster children in educating other
foster children about the foster children's bill of rights.
(g) Except as provided by this subsection, the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission and the
department, as appropriate, shall ensure that the rules and
policies governing foster care are consistent with the state policy
outlined by Subsection (b). The executive commissioner or the
department, as appropriate, may adopt rules or policies that
provide greater protections for the rights of children in foster
care.
(h) The department shall develop and implement a policy for
receiving and handling reports that a foster child's rights are not
being met. The department shall inform a child and, as appropriate,
the child's managing conservator or guardian of the method for
reporting to the department that the child's rights are not being
met.
(i) This section does not create a cause of action.
SECTION 7. Subsections (d), (e), and (f), Section 42.0221,
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 department's policies, standards, and
procedures relating to the licensing of foster care providers and
consider modifications to the policies, standards, and procedures
to increase the capacity of a foster care provider while continuing
to ensure the health and safety of children placed in the care of
the foster care provider.
(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 8. Section 531.048, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d-1) to read as follows:
(d-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (d), from funds
appropriated in the General Appropriations Act (S.B. No. 1), for
the fiscal biennium 2010-2011, the Department of Family and
Protective Services shall spend up to $12 million for the biennium
to ensure that 95 percent of children in the department's
conservatorship are visited by the child's caseworker at least one
time each month.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.