S.B. No. 1889
AN ACT
relating to the definition of neglect of a child, the exclusion of
certain information from the Department of Family and Protective
Services central registry of child abuse or neglect cases, and the
report of certain information regarding those cases to the
legislature.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 261.001(4), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(4) "Neglect":
(A) includes:
(i) [(A)] the leaving of a child in a
situation where the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of
physical or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for
the child, and the demonstration of an intent not to return by a
parent, guardian, or managing or possessory conservator of the
child;
(ii) [(B)] the following acts or omissions
by a person:
(a) [(i)] placing a child in or
failing to remove a child from a situation that a reasonable person
would realize requires judgment or actions beyond the child's level
of maturity, physical condition, or mental abilities and that
results in bodily injury or a substantial risk of immediate harm to
the child;
(b) [(ii)] failing to seek, obtain,
or follow through with medical care for a child, with the failure
resulting in or presenting a substantial risk of death,
disfigurement, or bodily injury or with the failure resulting in an
observable and material impairment to the growth, development, or
functioning of the child;
(c) [(iii)] the failure to provide a
child with food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life
or health of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by
financial inability unless relief services had been offered and
refused;
(d) [(iv)] placing a child in or
failing to remove the child from a situation in which the child
would be exposed to a substantial risk of sexual conduct harmful to
the child; or
(e) [(v)] placing a child in or
failing to remove the child from a situation in which the child
would be exposed to acts or omissions that constitute abuse under
Subdivision (1)(E), (F), (G), (H), or (K) committed against another
child; or
(iii) [(C)] the failure by the person
responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the
child to return to the child's home without arranging for the
necessary care for the child after the child has been absent from
the home for any reason, including having been in residential
placement or having run away; and
(B) does not include the refusal by a person
responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare to permit the
child to remain in or return to the child's home resulting in the
placement of the child in the conservatorship of the department if:
(i) the child has a severe emotional
disturbance;
(ii) the person's refusal is based solely on
the person's inability to obtain mental health services necessary
to protect the safety and well-being of the child; and
(iii) the person has exhausted all
reasonable means available to the person to obtain the mental
health services described by Subparagraph (ii).
SECTION 2. Section 261.002(b), Family Code, as amended by
S.B. No. 219, Acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, 2015,
is amended to read as follows:
(b) The executive commissioner shall [may] adopt rules
necessary to carry out this section. The rules shall:
(1) prohibit the department from making a finding of
abuse or neglect against a person in a case in which the department
is named managing conservator of a child who has a severe emotional
disturbance only because the child's family is unable to obtain
mental health services for the child; and
(2) establish guidelines for reviewing the records in
the registry and removing those records in which the department was
named managing conservator of a child who has a severe emotional
disturbance only because the child's family was unable to obtain
mental health services for the child [provide for cooperation with
local child service agencies, including hospitals, clinics, and
schools, and cooperation with other states in exchanging reports to
effect a national registration system].
SECTION 3. Section 262.352, Family Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 262.352. JOINT MANAGING CONSERVATORSHIP OF CHILD.
(a) Before the department files a suit affecting the parent-child
relationship requesting managing conservatorship [a person
relinquishes custody] of a child who suffers from a severe
emotional disturbance in order to obtain mental health services for
the child, the department must, unless [if] it is not in the best
interest of the child, discuss with the child's parent or legal
guardian [person relinquishing custody of the child] the option of
seeking a court order for joint managing conservatorship of the
child with the department.
(b) Not later than November 1 of each even-numbered year,
the department shall report the following information to the
legislature:
(1) with respect to children described by Subsection
(a):
(A) the number of children for whom the
department has been appointed managing conservator;
(B) the number of children for whom the
department has been appointed joint managing conservator; and
(C) the number of children who were diverted to
community or residential mental health services through another
agency; and
(2) the number of persons whose names were entered
into the central registry of cases of child abuse and neglect only
because the department was named managing conservator of a child
who has a severe emotional disturbance because the child's family
was unable to obtain mental health services for the child.
(c) Subsection (b) and this subsection expire September 1,
2019.
SECTION 4. Section 262.353, Family Code, is repealed.
SECTION 5. The Department of Family and Protective Services
shall implement the changes in law made by this Act using funds
appropriated to the department for the state fiscal biennium ending
August 31, 2017.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1889 passed the Senate on
April 30, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 20, 2015, by the
following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1889 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 14, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 146,
Nays 0, one present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor