Bill Text: TX SB1660 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to age-appropriate normalcy activities for children in the managing conservatorship of the state.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-14 - Referred to Health & Human Services [SB1660 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB1660-Introduced.html
  86R4921 MCK-D
 
  By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 1660
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
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; and
               (3)  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 department placed the child with
  a relative or other 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;
                     (C)  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;
                     (D)  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;
                     (E)  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);
                     (F)  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;
                     (G)  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;
                     (H)  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;
                     (I)  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;
                     (J)  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
                     (K)  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(c), Family Code, is repealed.
         SECTION 3.  The changes in law made by this Act to Section
  263.5031, Family Code, 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, 2019.
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