By: Huffman, Nelson  S.B. No. 1806
         (In the Senate - Filed March 9, 2017; March 23, 2017, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Health & Human Services;
  April 18, 2017, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 9, Nays 0; April 18, 2017,
  sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1806 By:  Uresti
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to requiring the use of multidisciplinary teams appointed
  by children's advocacy centers in certain child abuse
  investigations.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 264, Family Code, is
  amended by adding Section 264.4061 to read as follows:
         Sec. 264.4061.  MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM RESPONSE REQUIRED.
  (a)  The department shall refer a case to a center and the center
  shall initiate a response by a center's multidisciplinary team
  appointed under Section 264.406 when conducting an investigation
  of:
               (1)  a report of abuse that is made by a professional as
  defined by Section 261.101 and that:
                     (A)  alleges sexual abuse of a child; or
                     (B)  is a type of case handled by the center in
  accordance with the working protocol adopted for the center under
  Section 264.411(a)(9); or
               (2)  a child fatality in which there are surviving
  children in the deceased child's household or under the supervision
  of the caregiver involved in the child fatality.
         (b)  Any interview of a child conducted as part of the
  investigation under Subsection (a) must be a forensic interview
  conducted in accordance with the center's working protocol unless a
  forensic interview is not appropriate based on the child's age and
  development or the center's working protocol.
         (c)  Subsection (a) applies only to an investigation of abuse
  in a county served by a center that has executed an interagency
  memorandum of understanding under Section 264.403.  If a county is
  not served by a center that has executed an interagency memorandum
  of understanding, the department may directly refer a case to a
  center in an adjacent county to initiate a response by that center's
  multidisciplinary team, if appropriate. 
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
 
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