Bill Text: TX HB2924 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to procedures in certain suits affecting the parent-child relationship.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2021-06-16 - Effective on 9/1/21 [HB2924 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB2924-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Relating to procedures in certain suits affecting the parent-child relationship.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2021-06-16 - Effective on 9/1/21 [HB2924 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB2924-Comm_Sub.html
By: Dutton (Senate Sponsor - Hughes) | H.B. No. 2924 | |
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 2021; | ||
May 10, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on State | ||
Affairs; May 19, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote: | ||
Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 19, 2021, sent to printer.) | ||
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relating to certain grounds for the involuntary termination of the | ||
parent-child relationship. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 161.001(b), Family Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(b) The court may order termination of the parent-child | ||
relationship if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence: | ||
(1) that the parent has: | ||
(A) voluntarily left the child alone or in the | ||
possession of another not the parent and expressed an intent not to | ||
return; | ||
(B) voluntarily left the child alone or in the | ||
possession of another not the parent without expressing an intent | ||
to return, without providing for the adequate support of the child, | ||
and remained away for a period of at least three months; | ||
(C) voluntarily left the child alone or in the | ||
possession of another without providing adequate support of the | ||
child and remained away for a period of at least six months; | ||
(D) knowingly placed or knowingly allowed the | ||
child to remain in conditions or surroundings which endanger the | ||
physical or emotional well-being of the child; | ||
(E) engaged in conduct or knowingly placed the | ||
child with persons who engaged in conduct which endangers the | ||
physical or emotional well-being of the child; | ||
(F) failed to support the child in accordance | ||
with the parent's ability during a period of one year ending within | ||
six months of the date of the filing of the petition; | ||
(G) abandoned the child without identifying the | ||
child or furnishing means of identification, and the child's | ||
identity cannot be ascertained by the exercise of reasonable | ||
diligence; | ||
(H) voluntarily, and with knowledge of the | ||
pregnancy, abandoned the mother of the child beginning at a time | ||
during her pregnancy with the child and continuing through the | ||
birth, failed to provide adequate support or medical care for the | ||
mother during the period of abandonment before the birth of the | ||
child, and remained apart from the child or failed to support the | ||
child since the birth; | ||
(I) contumaciously refused to submit to a | ||
reasonable and lawful order of a court under Subchapter D, Chapter | ||
261; | ||
(J) been the major cause of: | ||
(i) the failure of the child to be enrolled | ||
in school as required by the Education Code; or | ||
(ii) the child's absence from the child's | ||
home without the consent of the parents or guardian for a | ||
substantial length of time or without the intent to return; | ||
(K) executed before or after the suit is filed an | ||
unrevoked or irrevocable affidavit of relinquishment of parental | ||
rights as provided by this chapter; | ||
(L) been convicted or has been placed on | ||
community supervision, including deferred adjudication community | ||
supervision, for being criminally responsible for the death or | ||
serious injury of a child under the following sections of the Penal | ||
Code, or under a law of another jurisdiction that contains elements | ||
that are substantially similar to the elements of an offense under | ||
one of the following Penal Code sections, or adjudicated under | ||
Title 3 for conduct that caused the death or serious injury of a | ||
child and that would constitute a violation of one of the following | ||
Penal Code sections: | ||
(i) Section 19.02 (murder); | ||
(ii) Section 19.03 (capital murder); | ||
(iii) Section 19.04 (manslaughter); | ||
(iv) Section 21.11 (indecency with a | ||
child); | ||
(v) Section 22.01 (assault); | ||
(vi) Section 22.011 (sexual assault); | ||
(vii) Section 22.02 (aggravated assault); | ||
(viii) Section 22.021 (aggravated sexual | ||
assault); | ||
(ix) Section 22.04 (injury to a child, | ||
elderly individual, or disabled individual); | ||
(x) Section 22.041 (abandoning or | ||
endangering child); | ||
(xi) Section 25.02 (prohibited sexual | ||
conduct); | ||
(xii) Section 43.25 (sexual performance by | ||
a child); | ||
(xiii) Section 43.26 (possession or | ||
promotion of child pornography); | ||
(xiv) Section 21.02 (continuous sexual | ||
abuse of young child or children); | ||
(xv) Section 20A.02(a)(7) or (8) | ||
(trafficking of persons); and | ||
(xvi) Section 43.05(a)(2) (compelling | ||
prostitution); | ||
(M) [ |
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been in the permanent or temporary managing conservatorship of the | ||
Department of Family and Protective Services for not less than six | ||
months, and: | ||
(i) the department has made reasonable | ||
efforts to return the child to the parent; | ||
(ii) the parent has not regularly visited | ||
or maintained significant contact with the child; and | ||
(iii) the parent has demonstrated an | ||
inability to provide the child with a safe environment; | ||
(N) [ |
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a court order that specifically established the actions necessary | ||
for the parent to obtain the return of the child who has been in the | ||
permanent or temporary managing conservatorship of the Department | ||
of Family and Protective Services for not less than nine months as a | ||
result of the child's removal from the parent under Chapter 262 for | ||
the abuse or neglect of the child; | ||
(O) [ |
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defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, in a manner that | ||
endangered the health or safety of the child, and: | ||
(i) failed to complete a court-ordered | ||
substance abuse treatment program; or | ||
(ii) after completion of a court-ordered | ||
substance abuse treatment program, continued to abuse a controlled | ||
substance; | ||
(P) [ |
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that has resulted in the parent's: | ||
(i) conviction of an offense; and | ||
(ii) confinement or imprisonment and | ||
inability to care for the child for not less than two years from the | ||
date of filing the petition; | ||
(Q) [ |
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addicted to alcohol or a controlled substance, other than a | ||
controlled substance legally obtained by prescription; | ||
(R) [ |
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designated emergency infant care provider under Section 262.302 | ||
without expressing an intent to return for the child; | ||
(S) [ |
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(i) the murder of the other parent of the | ||
child under Section 19.02 or 19.03, Penal Code, or under a law of | ||
another state, federal law, the law of a foreign country, or the | ||
Uniform Code of Military Justice that contains elements that are | ||
substantially similar to the elements of an offense under Section | ||
19.02 or 19.03, Penal Code; | ||
(ii) criminal attempt under Section 15.01, | ||
Penal Code, or under a law of another state, federal law, the law of | ||
a foreign country, or the Uniform Code of Military Justice that | ||
contains elements that are substantially similar to the elements of | ||
an offense under Section 15.01, Penal Code, to commit the offense | ||
described by Subparagraph (i); | ||
(iii) criminal solicitation under Section | ||
15.03, Penal Code, or under a law of another state, federal law, the | ||
law of a foreign country, or the Uniform Code of Military Justice | ||
that contains elements that are substantially similar to the | ||
elements of an offense under Section 15.03, Penal Code, of the | ||
offense described by Subparagraph (i); or | ||
(iv) the sexual assault of the other parent | ||
of the child under Section 22.011 or 22.021, Penal Code, or under a | ||
law of another state, federal law, or the Uniform Code of Military | ||
Justice that contains elements that are substantially similar to | ||
the elements of an offense under Section 22.011 or 22.021, Penal | ||
Code; or | ||
(T) [ |
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including deferred adjudication community supervision, or another | ||
functionally equivalent form of community supervision or | ||
probation, for being criminally responsible for the sexual assault | ||
of the other parent of the child under Section 22.011 or 22.021, | ||
Penal Code, or under a law of another state, federal law, or the | ||
Uniform Code of Military Justice that contains elements that are | ||
substantially similar to the elements of an offense under Section | ||
22.011 or 22.021, Penal Code; and | ||
(2) that termination is in the best interest of the | ||
child. | ||
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only | ||
to a court order for the involuntary termination of the | ||
parent-child relationship rendered on or after the effective date | ||
of this Act. A court order rendered before the effective date of | ||
this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the order was | ||
rendered, and the former law is continued in effect for that | ||
purpose. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. | ||
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