Bill Text: TX HB1968 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to procedures for certain hearings in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed by the Department of Family and Protective Services.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-10 - Placed on General State Calendar [HB1968 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HB1968-Comm_Sub.html
85R16992 MCK-F | |||
By: Bernal | H.B. No. 1968 | ||
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1968: | |||
By: Schofield | C.S.H.B. No. 1968 |
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relating to procedures for certain hearings in a suit affecting the | ||
parent-child relationship filed by the Department of Family and | ||
Protective Services. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 263.5031, Family Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
Sec. 263.5031. PERMANENCY HEARINGS FOLLOWING FINAL ORDER. | ||
At each permanency hearing after the court renders a final order, | ||
the court shall: | ||
(1) identify all persons and parties present at the | ||
hearing; | ||
(2) review the efforts of the department or other | ||
agency in notifying persons entitled to notice under Section | ||
263.0021; [ |
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(3) review the permanency progress report to | ||
determine: | ||
(A) the safety and well-being of the child and | ||
whether the child's needs, including any medical or special needs, | ||
are being adequately addressed; | ||
(B) the continuing necessity and appropriateness | ||
of the placement of the child, including with respect to a child who | ||
has been placed outside of this state, whether the placement | ||
continues to be in the best interest of the child; | ||
(C) if the child is placed in institutional care, | ||
whether efforts have been made to ensure that the child is placed in | ||
the least restrictive environment consistent with the child's best | ||
interest and special needs; | ||
(D) the appropriateness of the primary and | ||
alternative permanency goals for the child, whether the department | ||
has made reasonable efforts to finalize the permanency plan, | ||
including the concurrent permanency goals, in effect for the child, | ||
and whether: | ||
(i) the department has exercised due | ||
diligence in attempting to place the child for adoption if parental | ||
rights to the child have been terminated and the child is eligible | ||
for adoption; or | ||
(ii) another permanent placement, | ||
including appointing a relative as permanent managing conservator | ||
or returning the child to a parent, is appropriate for the child; | ||
(E) for a child whose permanency goal is another | ||
planned permanent living arrangement: | ||
(i) the desired permanency outcome for the | ||
child, by asking the child; and | ||
(ii) whether, as of the date of the hearing, | ||
another planned permanent living arrangement is the best permanency | ||
plan for the child and, if so, provide compelling reasons why it | ||
continues to not be in the best interest of the child to: | ||
(a) return home; | ||
(b) be placed for adoption; | ||
(c) be placed with a legal guardian; | ||
or | ||
(d) be placed with a fit and willing | ||
relative; | ||
(F) if the child is 14 years of age or older, | ||
whether services that are needed to assist the child in | ||
transitioning from substitute care to independent living are | ||
available in the child's community; | ||
(G) whether the child is receiving appropriate | ||
medical care and has been provided the opportunity, in a | ||
developmentally appropriate manner, to express the child's opinion | ||
on any medical care provided; | ||
(H) for a child receiving psychotropic | ||
medication, whether the child: | ||
(i) has been provided appropriate | ||
nonpharmacological interventions, therapies, or strategies to meet | ||
the child's needs; or | ||
(ii) has been seen by the prescribing | ||
physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice nurse at least | ||
once every 90 days; | ||
(I) whether an education decision-maker for the | ||
child has been identified, the child's education needs and goals | ||
have been identified and addressed, and there are major changes in | ||
the child's school performance or there have been serious | ||
disciplinary events; | ||
(J) for a child for whom the department has been | ||
named managing conservator in a final order that does not include | ||
termination of parental rights, whether to order the department to | ||
provide services to a parent for not more than six months after the | ||
date of the permanency hearing if: | ||
(i) the child has not been placed with a | ||
relative or other individual, including a foster parent, who is | ||
seeking permanent managing conservatorship of the child; and | ||
(ii) the court determines that further | ||
efforts at reunification with a parent are: | ||
(a) in the best interest of the child; | ||
and | ||
(b) likely to result in the child's | ||
safe return to the child's parent; and | ||
(K) whether the department has identified a | ||
family or other caring adult who has made a permanent commitment to | ||
the child; and | ||
(4) if the child is 16 years of age or older, determine | ||
whether the department has provided the child with the following: | ||
(A) the child's birth certificate; | ||
(B) a social security card or a replacement | ||
social security card; | ||
(C) a driver's license or personal | ||
identification certificate under Chapter 521, Transportation Code; | ||
(D) the information contained in the child's | ||
health passport, including the child's immunization records, as | ||
required under Section 266.006; | ||
(E) proof of enrollment of the child in Medicaid, | ||
if appropriate; and | ||
(F) written information advising the child of | ||
postsecondary education benefits and opportunities available to | ||
the child, including the tuition exemption for former foster | ||
children under Section 54.366, Education Code. | ||
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to a | ||
suit affecting the parent-child relationship that is pending on or | ||
filed on or after the effective date of this Act. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. |