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  S.B. No. 534
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to providing stable placement for certain children in the
  conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective
  Services.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  The heading to Chapter 263, Family Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
  CHAPTER 263.  REVIEW OF PLACEMENT OF CHILDREN UNDER CARE OF
  DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND PROTECTIVE [AND REGULATORY] SERVICES
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 263, Family Code, is
  amended by adding Section 263.009 to read as follows:
         Sec. 263.009.  PERMANENCY PLANNING MEETINGS. (a)  The
  department shall hold a permanency planning meeting for each child
  for whom the department is appointed temporary managing
  conservator:
               (1)  not later than the 45th day after the date the
  department is named temporary managing conservator of the child;
  and
               (2)  not later than five months after the date the
  department is named temporary managing conservator of the child.
         (b)  At the five-month permanency planning meeting described
  by Subsection (a)(2), the department shall:
               (1)  identify any barriers to achieving a timely
  permanent placement for the child; and
               (2)  develop strategies and determine actions that will
  increase the probability of achieving a timely permanent placement
  for the child.
         (c)  The five-month permanency planning meeting described by
  Subsection (a)(2) and any subsequent permanency planning meeting
  may be conducted as a multidisciplinary permanency planning meeting
  if the department determines that a multidisciplinary permanency
  planning meeting will assist the department in placing the child
  with an adult caregiver who will permanently assume legal
  responsibility for the child and facilitate the child's exit from
  the conservatorship of the department.
         (d)  Except as provided by Subsection (e), the department
  shall make reasonable efforts to include the following persons in
  each multidisciplinary permanency planning meeting and notify
  those persons of the meeting:
               (1)  the child, if the child is at least seven years of
  age;
               (2)  the child's attorney ad litem;
               (3)  the child's guardian ad litem;
               (4)  any court-appointed volunteer advocate for the
  child;
               (5)  the child's substitute care provider and any
  child-placing agency involved with the child;
               (6)  each of the child's parents and the parents'
  attorney, unless:
                     (A)  the parent cannot be located;
                     (B)  the parent has executed an affidavit of
  relinquishment of parental rights; or
                     (C)  the parent's parental rights have been
  terminated;
               (7)  each attorney ad litem appointed to represent the
  interests of a parent in the suit; and
               (8)  any other person the department determines should
  attend the permanency planning meeting.
         (e)  The department is not required to include a person
  listed in Subsection (d) in a multidisciplinary permanency planning
  meeting or to notify that person of a meeting if the department or
  its authorized designee determines that the person's presence at
  the meeting may have a detrimental effect on:
               (1)  the safety or well-being of another participant in
  the meeting; or
               (2)  the success of the meeting because a parent or the
  child has expressed an unwillingness to include that person in the
  meeting.
         (f)  The department shall give the notice required by
  Subsection (d) by e-mail if possible.
         SECTION 3.  Subsection (c), Section 263.502, Family Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (c)  The placement review report must identify the
  department's permanency goal for the child and must:
               (1)  evaluate whether the child's current placement is
  appropriate for meeting the child's needs;
               (2)  evaluate whether efforts have been made to ensure
  placement of the child in the least restrictive environment
  consistent with the best interest and special needs of the child if
  the child is placed in institutional care;
               (3)  contain a transition plan for a child who is at
  least 16 years of age that identifies the services and specific
  tasks that are needed to assist the child in making the transition
  from substitute care to adult living and describes the services
  that are being provided through the Transitional Living Services
  Program operated by the department;
               (4)  evaluate whether the child's current educational
  placement is appropriate for meeting the child's academic needs;
               (5)  identify other plans or services that are needed
  to meet the child's special needs or circumstances;
               (6)  describe the efforts of the department or
  authorized agency to place the child for adoption if parental
  rights to the child have been terminated and the child is eligible
  for adoption, including efforts to provide adoption promotion and
  support services as defined by 42 U.S.C. Section 629a and other
  efforts consistent with the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act
  of 1997 (Pub. L. No. 105-89);
               (7)  for a child for whom the department has been named
  managing conservator in a final order that does not include
  termination of parental rights, describe the efforts of the
  department to find a permanent placement for the child, including
  efforts to:
                     (A)  work with the caregiver with whom the child
  is placed to determine whether that caregiver is willing to become a
  permanent placement for the child;
                     (B)  locate a relative or other suitable
  individual to serve as permanent managing conservator of the child;
  and
                     (C)  evaluate any change in a parent's
  circumstances to determine whether:
                           (i)  the child can be returned to the parent;
  or
                           (ii)  parental rights should be terminated;
  [and]
               (8)  with respect to a child committed to the Texas
  Juvenile Justice Department [Youth Commission] or released under
  supervision by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Youth
  Commission]:
                     (A)  evaluate whether the child's needs for
  treatment and education are being met;
                     (B)  describe, using information provided by the
  Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Youth Commission], the child's
  progress in any rehabilitation program administered by the Texas
  Juvenile Justice Department [Youth Commission]; and
                     (C)  recommend other plans or services to meet the
  child's needs; and
               (9)  identify any placement changes that have occurred
  since the most recent court hearing concerning the child and
  describe any barriers to sustaining the child's placement,
  including any reason for which a substitute care provider has
  requested a placement change.
         SECTION 4.  Subchapter B, Chapter 264, Family Code, is
  amended by adding Section 264.120 to read as follows:
         Sec. 264.120.  DISCHARGE NOTICE.  (a)  Except as provided by
  Subsection (b), a substitute care provider with whom the department
  contracts to provide substitute care services for a child shall
  include in a discharge notice the following information:
               (1)  the reason for the child's discharge; and
               (2)  the provider's recommendation regarding a future
  placement for the child that would increase the child's opportunity
  to attain a stable placement.
         (b)  In an emergency situation in which the department is
  required under the terms of the contract with the substitute care
  provider to remove a child within 24 hours after receiving the
  discharge notice, the provider must provide the information
  required by Subsection (a) to the department not later than 48 hours
  after the provider sends the discharge notice.
         SECTION 5.  Section 263.009, Family Code, as added by this
  Act, applies only to a child placed in the temporary managing
  conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services
  on or after the effective date of this Act.
         SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
 
 
 
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 534 passed the Senate on
  April 3, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
  the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 23, 2013, by the
  following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 534 passed the House, with
  amendment, on May 17, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 134,
  Nays 0, two present not voting.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
 
  Approved:
 
  ______________________________ 
              Date
 
 
  ______________________________ 
            Governor