85R1626 MCK-D
By: Wu H.B. No. 702
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a system for assessing the potential risk of harm to
children in child protective services.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 40, Human Resources Code,
is amended by adding Section 40.0529 to read as follows:
Sec. 40.0529. RISK OF HARM ASSESSMENT. (a) The department
shall establish a system for assessing the risk of harm to a child
from abuse or neglect for each child who is the subject of a report
of abuse or neglect or of an active child protective services case.
The system shall provide a score for each case on a scale from 1 for
a child at the lowest risk of harm to 10 for a child at the highest
risk of harm.
(b) The department, with assistance from the Bush School of
Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, the Lyndon
B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas, and
the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston,
shall study child protective services cases to identify factors
that indicate a risk of child abuse or neglect and develop objective
criteria to be used in the risk of harm assessment.
(c) In assessing the risk of harm to a child from abuse or
neglect, the department shall consider:
(1) the risk of harm a parent poses to a child who
remains in the child's home, including:
(A) the likelihood of the child's death or
serious injury; and
(B) the likelihood of serious psychological harm
to the child;
(2) the potential psychological harm to a child who
remains in the child's home;
(3) the potential psychological harm to a child who is
removed from the child's home;
(4) the risk of harm to a child who is returned to the
child's home; and
(5) the services required to address the child's
needs, including the child's medical and mental health care needs.
(d) After the department assigns a risk of harm assessment
score to a child's case, the child protective services caseworker
for the child's case may adjust the score by one point based on the
caseworker's knowledge and experience with the child.
(e) The department shall complete a risk of harm assessment
for each child protective services case before a court holds a full
adversary hearing on the case and shall periodically reassess the
risk of harm to the child.
(f) The department shall use the risk of harm assessment
score when making decisions relating to:
(1) caseworker assignments;
(2) parental access to the child;
(3) attorney assignments; and
(4) caseload limits for caseworkers.
(g) The department may only assign an experienced
caseworker to a child protective services case that has been
assigned a high risk of harm assessment score.
(h) The risk of harm assessment score is inadmissible in
court as evidence.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a child protective services case started on or after the
effective date of this Act. A child protective services case
started before that date is governed by the law in effect on the
date the case began, and the former law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.