| |
| |
| |
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to age-appropriate normalcy activities for children in the |
|
|
managing conservatorship of the state. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
(a) 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; |
|
|
(3) for a child placed with a relative of the child or |
|
|
other designated caregiver, review the efforts of the department to |
|
|
inform the caregiver of: |
|
|
(A) the option to become verified by a licensed |
|
|
child-placing agency to operate an agency foster home, if |
|
|
applicable; and |
|
|
(B) the permanency care assistance program under |
|
|
Subchapter K, Chapter 264; and |
|
|
(4) 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) whether the child has been provided the |
|
|
opportunity, in a developmentally appropriate manner, to identify |
|
|
any adult, particularly an adult residing in the child's community, |
|
|
who could be a relative or designated caregiver for the child; |
|
|
(C) whether the department placed the child with |
|
|
a relative or designated caregiver and 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; |
|
|
(D) 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; |
|
|
(E) 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; |
|
|
(F) for a child whose permanency goal is another |
|
|
planned permanent living arrangement: |
|
|
(i) the desired permanency outcome for the |
|
|
child, by asking the child; |
|
|
(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; |
|
|
(iii) whether the department has conducted |
|
|
an independent living skills assessment under Section |
|
|
264.121(a-3); |
|
|
(iv) whether the department has addressed |
|
|
the goals identified in the child's permanency plan, including the |
|
|
child's housing plan, and the results of the independent living |
|
|
skills assessment; |
|
|
(v) if the youth is 16 years of age or |
|
|
older, whether there is evidence that the department has provided |
|
|
the youth with the documents and information listed in Section |
|
|
264.121(e); and |
|
|
(vi) if the youth is 18 years of age or |
|
|
older or has had the disabilities of minority removed, whether |
|
|
there is evidence that the department has provided the youth with |
|
|
the documents and information listed in Section 264.121(e-1); |
|
|
(G) 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; |
|
|
(H) 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; |
|
|
(I) 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; |
|
|
(J) 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; |
|
|
(K) 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 |
|
|
(L) whether the department has identified a |
|
|
family or other caring adult who has made a permanent commitment to |
|
|
the child. |
|
|
(b) In addition to the requirements of Subsection (a), at |
|
|
each permanency hearing after the court renders a final order, the |
|
|
court shall review the department's efforts to ensure the child has |
|
|
regular, ongoing opportunities to engage in age-appropriate |
|
|
normalcy activities, including activities not listed in the child's |
|
|
service plan. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 263.503, Family Code, is repealed. |
|
|
SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to |
|
|
a permanency hearing conducted under Chapter 263, Family Code, on |
|
|
or after the effective date of this Act. A permanency hearing |
|
|
conducted before the effective date of this Act is governed by the |
|
|
law in effect on the date the hearing was conducted, and the former |
|
|
law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |
| |
| |
| |
______________________________ |
______________________________ |
| |
President of the Senate |
Speaker of the House |
| |
| |
|
|
I certify that H.B. No. 2058 was passed by the House on April |
|
|
16, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 2 present, not |
|
|
voting. |
|
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
|
Chief Clerk of the House |
| |
| |
|
|
I certify that H.B. No. 2058 was passed by the Senate on May |
|
|
21, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. |
|
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
|
Secretary of the Senate |
|
|
APPROVED: _____________________ |
|
|
Date |
|
|
|
|
|
_____________________ |
|
|
Governor |