Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 34 amends the Family Code to streamline the permanency review process for children under temporary conservatorship of the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services. It requires a court to render a final order or dismiss a suit within one year of granting the department temporary conservatorship of a child and to hold regular placement review hearings regarding a child in the conservatorship of the department. The act authorizes a court to render a final order that appoints the department as conservator without terminating parental rights and requires the department to develop a permanency plan for each child under its conservatorship and to begin locating adoptive parents as soon as a permanency plan is developed that includes termination of the parent-child relationship.

            Senate Bill 34 decreases to six months the amount of time the validity of an adoption order is subject to attack. The act also authorizes the department to assume custody of an abandoned child whose identity cannot be determined and requires the department to immediately file suit to terminate the parent-child relationship. The act also requires the department to maintain information relating to the adoption of children placed in the custody of the department. Senate Bill 34 requires the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System to develop a court information system to track compliance with requirements relating to the final order for a child under the care of the department. The act specifies that an order terminating parental rights is not subject to attack after six months after the order is rendered and limits the issues that certain attacks on an order terminating parental rights may address.

            The act takes effect September 1, 1997, except for provisions relating to suits affecting the parent-child relationship which take effect January 1, 1998.