Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 368 amends the Government Code to require the development of uniform procedures to be used by the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (DPRS), the Texas Department of Human Services (DHS), and the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (MHMR) in developing a permanency plan required for each child residing in an institution for whom DPRS has been appointed managing conservator. The bill allows DHS, DPRS, and MHMR to delegate each department's duty to develop a child's permanency plan to a local mental retardation authority and authorizes the departments to contract with a private entity to develop a permanency plan for a child. It requires institutions, including group homes and nursing homes, to notify specified agencies and groups of a child's placement in the institution and requires a state agency that receives the notification to ensure that the child is placed on a waiting list for waiver program services under the federal Social Security Act.

            The bill requires the Health and Human Services Commission to contract with a community or nonprofit organization for the development and implementation of a system under which a child who cannot reside with the child's birth family may receive necessary services in a family-based alternative instead of an institution. The system must provide for recruiting and training of alternative families to provide services for children, a comprehensive assessment of the child's needs, information regarding the availability of family-based alternatives, and the offer of waiver services that would enable the child to return to the child's birth family or for placement in a family-based alternative. The commission is directed to conduct a study regarding the reimbursement provided for permanency planning activities.