83R26587 JSL-D
By: Raymond H.B. No. 3399
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the stability of placements 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. The heading to Chapter 263, Family Code, is
amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER 263. REVIEW OF PLACEMENT OF CHILDREN UNDER CARE OF
DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND PROTECTIVE [AND REGULATORY] SERVICES
SECTION 2. Chapter 263, Family Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter D-1 to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER D-1. PLACEMENT STABILITY
Sec. 263.351. NOTICE OF PLACEMENT CHANGE. A substitute
care provider with whom the department contracts to provide
substitute care services for a child shall notify the department if
the child has a placement change. The notice must:
(1) be sent at the earliest time the provider is
otherwise required to provide notice of a change of the child's
placement;
(2) state the reason for the placement change; and
(3) include the provider's recommendation regarding a
future placement for the child that would increase the child's
opportunity to attain stability.
Sec. 263.352. PLACEMENT TRACKING SYSTEM. (a) The
department shall identify each child for whom the department has
been appointed temporary or permanent managing conservator who has
had two or more placements during the preceding 12 months. For each
child identified under this subsection, the department shall
collect the following information:
(1) the number of placement changes for the child;
(2) whether a placement change occurred for any of the
following reasons:
(A) the child ran away;
(B) the caregiver or child-placing agency
responsible for placing the child requested the change;
(C) the child was hospitalized for medical or
mental health reasons; or
(D) the child refused to remain in the placement;
and
(3) if a placement change occurred due to a reason
listed under Subdivision (2):
(A) the child's name;
(B) the child's age;
(C) the address of the child's current placement;
(D) the court in which the suit affecting the
parent-child relationship involving the child is pending;
(E) the county and department region in which the
court is located;
(F) the reason for each placement change;
(G) the child-placing agency responsible for
placing the child; and
(H) the level of care the child was determined to
require.
(b) At least once each month, the department shall prepare a
report from the information collected under Subsection (a) and
provide the report to the commissioner of the department and the
assistant commissioner for child protective services.
(c) The department shall include the aggregated data
compiled under Subsection (b) in the department's annual data
report.
SECTION 3. Section 263.502(c), Family Code, is amended 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 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 through the Transitional Living Services
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;
(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);
(7) for a child for whom the department has been named
managing conservator in a final order that does not include
termination of parental rights, describe the efforts of the
department to find a permanent placement for the child, including
efforts to:
(A) work with the caregiver with whom the child
is placed to determine whether that caregiver is willing to become a
permanent placement for the child;
(B) locate a relative or other suitable
individual to serve as permanent managing conservator of the child;
and
(C) evaluate any change in a parent's
circumstances to determine whether:
(i) the child can be returned to the parent;
or
(ii) parental rights should be terminated;
[and]
(8) with respect to a child committed to the Texas
Juvenile Justice Department [Youth Commission] or released under
supervision by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Youth
Commission]:
(A) evaluate whether the child's needs for
treatment and education are being met;
(B) describe, using information provided by the
Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Youth Commission], the child's
progress in any rehabilitation program administered by the Texas
Juvenile Justice Department [Youth Commission]; and
(C) recommend other plans or services to meet the
child's needs; and
(9) identify the department's concerns, if any,
related to the stability of the child's placement and barriers to
sustaining the child's placement, including any reason for which a
substitute care provider has requested a placement change.
SECTION 4. 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, 2013.