86R2536 MCK-D
By: Howard H.B. No. 473
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Department of Family and Protective Services
reporting certain information regarding youth in the managing
conservatorship of the department who are pregnant or who are
parents.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 264.017(b), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The department shall provide the report required by
Subsection (a) to the legislature and shall publish the report and
make the report available electronically to the public not later
than February 1 of each year. The report must include, with respect
to the preceding year:
(1) information on the number and disposition of
reports of child abuse and neglect received by the department;
(2) information on the number of clients for whom the
department took protective action, including investigations,
alternative responses, and court-ordered removals;
(3) information on the number of clients for whom the
department provided services in each program administered by the
child protective services division, including investigations,
alternative responses, family-based safety services,
conservatorship, post-adoption services, and transitional living
services;
(4) the number of children in this state who died as a
result of child abuse or neglect;
(5) the number of children described by Subdivision
(4) for whom the department was the children's managing conservator
at the time of death;
(6) information on the timeliness of the department's
initial contact in an investigation or alternative response;
(7) information on the response time by the department
in commencing services to families and children for whom an
allegation of child abuse or neglect has been made;
(8) information regarding child protection staffing
and caseloads by program area;
(9) information on the permanency goals in place and
achieved for children in the managing conservatorship of the
department, including information on the timeliness of achieving
the goals, the stability of the children's placement in foster
care, and the proximity of placements to the children's home
counties;
(10) the number of children who suffer from a severe
emotional disturbance and for whom the department is appointed
managing conservator, including statistics on appointments as
joint managing conservator, due to an individual voluntarily
relinquishing custody of a child solely to obtain mental health
services for the child;
(11) the following information regarding [number of]
children who are pregnant or who are parents [a parent] while in the
managing conservatorship of the department:
(A) the number of pregnant female children in the
managing conservatorship of the department who are at least 13
years of age but younger than 18 years of age compared to the total
number of female children in the managing conservatorship of the
department who are at least 13 years of age but younger than 18
years of age;
(B) the number of female children in the managing
conservatorship of the department who are at least 13 years of age
but younger than 18 years of age and who have given birth to a child
compared to the total number of female children in the managing
conservatorship of the department who are at least 13 years of age
but younger than 18 years of age;
(C) the number of pregnant female youth in the
managing conservatorship of the department who are younger than 22
years of age and the following information for each youth:
(i) the youth's age;
(ii) the youth's race and ethnicity;
(iii) the youth's county of residence;
(iv) the time the youth has been in
substitute care; and
(v) the type of substitute care in which the
youth is placed;
(D) the number of youth in the managing
conservatorship of the department who are younger than 22 years of
age and who are parents and the following information for each
youth:
(i) the youth's gender;
(ii) the youth's age;
(iii) the youth's race and ethnicity;
(iv) the youth's county of residence;
(v) the time the youth has been in
substitute care; and
(vi) the type of substitute care in which
the youth is placed;
(E) the number of youth in the managing
conservatorship of the department who are parents of a child who is
also in the managing conservatorship of the department and the
following information for each youth:
(i) the type of substitute care in which the
youth is placed; and
(ii) whether the youth and the child are
placed together;
(F) for youth described by Paragraphs (C) and (D)
who exit the department's conservatorship, the following
information for each youth:
(i) whether the youth is adopted, reunited
with the youth's family, or emancipated;
(ii) the youth's age on the date the youth
exited the department's conservatorship; and
(iii) the time the youth spent in
substitute care;
(G) the number of children in the managing
conservatorship of the department who are at least 11 years of age
but younger than 18 years of age and who are pregnant or who are
parents at the time the child enters the conservatorship of the
department; and
(H) the number of children in the managing
conservatorship of the department who are at least 11 years of age
but younger than 18 years of age and who become pregnant or who
become parents while in the conservatorship of the department [and
the number of the children born to a parent in the managing
conservatorship of the department who are placed in the managing
conservatorship of the department];
(12) the number of children who are missing from the
children's substitute care provider while in the managing
conservatorship of the department; and
(13) the number of children who were victims of
trafficking under Chapter 20A, Penal Code, while in the managing
conservatorship of the department.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.