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Senate Bill 471 |
Senate Author: West et al. |
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Effective: 6-17-11 |
House Sponsor: Parker |
Senate Bill 471 amends the Education Code to require a school district's policy addressing sexual abuse of children to also address maltreatment of children and to require each open-enrollment charter school to adopt and implement such a policy. The bill requires the methods addressed by the policy for increasing staff, student, and parent awareness of related issues to include training concerning prevention techniques for and recognition of sexual abuse and all other maltreatment of children. Such training must be provided to new district and charter school educators and professional staff as part of new employee orientation, may be provided annually to any district or charter school staff member, and may be included in staff development. The training must address risk factors and warning signs of sexual abuse or other maltreatment, internal procedures for seeking assistance for an at-risk child, techniques for reducing that risk, and community organizations available as resources for such training. The bill requires a school district or charter school that does not have sufficient resources to provide the required training to work in conjunction with a community organization to provide that training at no cost to the district or school. The bill requires each school district's district improvement plan to include provisions for the policy on sexual abuse and other maltreatment of children.
Senate Bill 471 amends the Human Resources Code to require a child-placing agency or day-care center to provide training for staff members in prevention techniques for and the recognition of symptoms of sexual abuse and other maltreatment of children and the responsibility and procedure of reporting of suspected occurrences of sexual abuse and other maltreatment of children to the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) or another appropriate entity. The bill requires the training to be provided for at least an hour annually and include training concerning risk factors and warning signs of sexual abuse or other maltreatment, internal procedures for seeking assistance for an at-risk child, techniques for reducing that risk, and community organizations available as resources for such training. The bill authorizes a child-placing agency or day-care center that does not have sufficient resources to provide the required training to contact a DFPS licensing employee to obtain information concerning community organizations that will provide such training at no cost to the agency or center. The bill requires each child-placing agency or day-care center to adopt and implement a policy addressing the sexual abuse and other maltreatment of children that addresses methods for increasing agency and center staff and parent awareness of issues regarding and prevention techniques for sexual abuse and other maltreatment of children and actions that, after contacting an agency or center, the parent of a child who is a victim of sexual abuse or other maltreatment should take to obtain assistance and intervention.