87R1432 MCK-D

By: Howard H.B. No. 608

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a Department of Family and Protective Services report on youth in the managing conservatorship of the department who are pregnant or who are parents.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 264.017(b), Family Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) The department shall provide the report required by Subsection (a) to the legislature and shall publish the report and make the report available electronically to the public not later than February 1 of each year. The report must include, with respect to the preceding year:

(1) information on the number and disposition of reports of child abuse and neglect received by the department;

(2) information on the number of clients for whom the department took protective action, including investigations, alternative responses, and court-ordered removals;

(3) information on the number of clients for whom the department provided services in each program administered by the child protective services division, including investigations, alternative responses, family-based safety services, conservatorship, post-adoption services, and transitional living services;

(4) the number of children in this state who died as a result of child abuse or neglect;

(5) the number of children described by Subdivision (4) for whom the department was the children's managing conservator at the time of death;

(6) information on the timeliness of the department's initial contact in an investigation or alternative response;

(7) information on the response time by the department in commencing services to families and children for whom an allegation of child abuse or neglect has been made;

(8) information regarding child protection staffing and caseloads by program area;

(9) information on the permanency goals in place and achieved for children in the managing conservatorship of the department, including information on the timeliness of achieving the goals, the stability of the children's placement in foster care, and the proximity of placements to the children's home counties;

(10) the number of children who suffer from a severe emotional disturbance and for whom the department is appointed managing conservator, including statistics on appointments as joint managing conservator, due to an individual voluntarily relinquishing custody of a child solely to obtain mental health services for the child;

(11) the following information regarding [number of] children who are pregnant or who are parents [a parent] while in the managing conservatorship of the department:

(A) the number of pregnant female children who are at least 13 years of age but younger than 18 years of age compared to the total number of female children who are at least 13 years of age but younger than 18 years of age;

(B) the number of female children who are at least 13 years of age but younger than 18 years of age and who have given birth to a child compared to the total number of female children who are at least 13 years of age but younger than 18 years of age;

(C) the number of pregnant female youth who are younger than 22 years of age and the following information for each youth:

(i) the youth's age;

(ii) the youth's race and ethnicity;

(iii) the youth's county of residence;

(iv) the time the youth has been in substitute care; and

(v) the type of substitute care in which the youth is placed;

(D) the number of youth who are younger than 22 years of age and who are parents and the following information for each youth:

(i) the youth's gender;

(ii) the youth's age;

(iii) the youth's race and ethnicity;

(iv) the youth's county of residence;

(v) the time the youth has been in substitute care; and

(vi) the type of substitute care in which the youth is placed;

(E) the number of youth who are parents of at least one child who is also in the managing conservatorship of the department and the following information for each youth:

(i) the type of substitute care in which the youth is placed; and

(ii) whether the youth and the child are placed together;

(F) for youth described by Paragraphs (C) and (D) who exit the department's conservatorship, the following information for each youth:

(i) whether the youth is adopted, reunited with the youth's family, or emancipated;

(ii) the youth's age on the date the youth exited the department's conservatorship; and

(iii) the time the youth spent in substitute care;

(G) the number of children who are at least 11 years of age but younger than 18 years of age and who are pregnant or who are parents at the time the child enters the conservatorship of the department; and

(H) the number of children who are at least 11 years of age but younger than 18 years of age and who become pregnant or who become parents while in the conservatorship of the department [and the number of the children born to a parent in the managing conservatorship of the department who are placed in the managing conservatorship of the department];

(12) the number of children who are missing from the children's substitute care provider while in the managing conservatorship of the department; and

(13) the number of children who were victims of trafficking under Chapter 20A, Penal Code, while in the managing conservatorship of the department.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.