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Senate Bill 534 |
Senate Author: West |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
House Sponsor: Dukes |
Senate Bill 534 amends the Family Code to require the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to hold a permanency planning meeting for each child for whom DFPS is appointed temporary managing conservator not later than both the 45th day and five months after the date DFPS is named temporary managing conservator of the child. The bill requires DFPS to identify at the five-month permanency planning meeting any barriers to achieving a timely permanency for the child and to develop strategies and determine actions that will increase the probability of a timely permanency for the child. The bill authorizes the five-month planning meeting and any subsequent planning meetings to be conducted as a multidisciplinary permanency planning meeting if it is determined that such a meeting will assist DFPS in permanently placing the child with a caregiver and facilitate the child's exit from the conservatorship of DFPS. The bill establishes the persons required to be included in and notified of each multidisciplinary permanency planning meeting, except under certain circumstances.
Senate Bill 534 requires a placement review report filed with a court before a placement review hearing for a child under DFPS care to identify any placement changes that have occurred since the most recent court hearing concerning the child and describe any barriers for sustaining the child's placement, including any reason for which a substitute care provider has requested a placement change. The bill requires a substitute care provider for a child in DFPS care to include in the discharge notice the reason for the child's discharge and the provider's recommendation regarding a future placement for the child that would increase the child's opportunity to attain a stable placement, with an alternative method for providing that information in certain emergency circumstances.