84R18465 MK-F
By: Burkett, Naishtat H.B. No. 781
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to caregiver screening and training by substitute care
providers 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 40.058, Human Resources Code, is amended
by adding Subsections (f), (g), and (h) to read as follows:
(f) A contract for residential child-care services provided
by a general residential operation or by a child-placing agency
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) 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
(5) are necessary, as determined by the department, to
ensure accountability for the delivery of services and for the
expenditure of public funds.
(g) A contract with a private agency for the provision of
substitute care or case management services for a child must
include provisions that require the agency to provide access to the
agency's information and records relating to the child to the
child's attorney ad litem and guardian ad litem.
(h) In contracting with licensed child-placing agencies for
residential child-care services, the department shall:
(1) determine and evaluate, using best practice
standards, the home screening, assessment, and preservice training
requirements used by substitute care providers before the
verification and approval of caregivers, including:
(A) risk assessment evaluations used; and
(B) the curriculum and models used and topics
covered in caregiver training; and
(2) publish on the department's Internet website the
information collected by the department regarding the curriculum
and training models used and topics covered during caregiver
training by substitute care providers.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 42, Human Resources Code,
is amended by adding Section 42.0537 to read as follows:
Sec. 42.0537. CAREGIVER TRAINING REQUIREMENT. (a) The
department shall include a provision in each contract with a
child-placing agency with whom children in the managing
conservatorship of the department are placed that requires the
child-placing agency to provide at least 35 hours of
competency-based, preservice training to a potential caregiver
before the child-placing agency verifies or approves the caregiver
as a foster or adoptive home.
(b) The department shall adopt policies to ensure that each
potential caregiver receives at least 35 hours of competency-based,
preservice training before the department verifies or approves the
caregiver as a foster or adoptive home.
SECTION 3. Section 40.058(b-1), Human Resources Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 4. The preservice training requirement under
Section 42.0537, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, does
not apply to an individual who was verified or approved as a
caregiver by a substitute care provider before the effective date
of this Act, to an individual who is in the process of being
verified or approved as a caregiver by a substitute care provider on
the effective date of this Act, or to an individual who has been
designated as a kinship caregiver and who, on the effective date of
this Act, is pursuing verification or licensure as a foster parent
or approval as an adoptive parent with the Department of Family and
Protective Services.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.