Bill Text: TX HB85 | 2013 | 83rd Legislature 1st Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to suits affecting the parent-child relationship and placement decisions for children in foster care.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-06-18 - Filed [HB85 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HB85-Introduced.html
83S10532 YDB-D | ||
By: Flynn | H.B. No. 85 |
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relating to suits affecting the parent-child relationship and | ||
placement decisions for children in foster care. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 102.003, Family Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as | ||
follows: | ||
(a) An original suit may be filed at any time by: | ||
(1) a parent of the child; | ||
(2) the child through a representative authorized by | ||
the court; | ||
(3) a custodian or person having the right of | ||
visitation with or access to the child appointed by an order of a | ||
court of another state or country; | ||
(4) a guardian of the person or of the estate of the | ||
child; | ||
(5) a governmental entity; | ||
(6) an authorized agency; | ||
(7) a licensed child placing agency; | ||
(8) a man alleging himself to be the father of a child | ||
filing in accordance with Chapter 160, subject to the limitations | ||
of that chapter, but not otherwise; | ||
(9) a person, other than a foster parent, who has had | ||
actual care, control, and possession of the child for at least six | ||
months ending not more than 90 days preceding the date of the filing | ||
of the petition; | ||
(10) a person designated as the managing conservator | ||
in a revoked or unrevoked affidavit of relinquishment under Chapter | ||
161 or to whom consent to adoption has been given in writing under | ||
Chapter 162; | ||
(11) a person with whom the child and the child's | ||
guardian, managing conservator, or parent have resided for at least | ||
six months ending not more than 90 days preceding the date of the | ||
filing of the petition if the child's guardian, managing | ||
conservator, or parent is deceased at the time of the filing of the | ||
petition; | ||
(12) a person who is the foster parent of a child | ||
placed by the Department of Family and Protective Services in the | ||
person's home and with whom the child has resided for at least six | ||
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with the foster parent when the child was under two months of age, | ||
ending not more than 90 days preceding the date of the filing of the | ||
petition; | ||
(13) a person who is a relative of the child within the | ||
third degree by consanguinity, as determined by Chapter 573, | ||
Government Code, if the child's parents are deceased at the time of | ||
the filing of the petition; or | ||
(14) a person who has been named as a prospective | ||
adoptive parent of a child by a pregnant woman or the parent of the | ||
child, in a verified written statement to confer standing executed | ||
under Section 102.0035, regardless of whether the child has been | ||
born. | ||
(d) Subsection (a)(12) does not apply to a person who is the | ||
foster parent of a child for whom the Department of Family and | ||
Protective Services' goal is reunification with the child's parent | ||
and the department determines, in accordance with department rules, | ||
that the child's parent is making satisfactory progress on a plan to | ||
return the child to the parent's home before the first anniversary | ||
of the date the child was placed with the foster parent. | ||
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 264, Family Code, is | ||
amended by adding Section 264.1076 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 264.1076. CONSIDERATIONS IN MODIFYING PLACEMENT | ||
DECISION. In determining whether to modify a foster care placement | ||
decision, the department shall consider: | ||
(1) the length of time the child has resided with the | ||
foster parent; | ||
(2) the degree to which the child has formed an | ||
attachment to the foster parent; and | ||
(3) the potential harm to the child caused by | ||
separation from the foster parent or by the disruption of a stable | ||
placement. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect October 1, 2013. |