By: Moncrief S.B. No. 19
73R670 JMM-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to suits affecting the parent-child relationship,
1-3 including the regulation of adoption procedures; creating an
1-4 offense.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 11.12(b), Family Code, as amended by
1-7 Chapter 371 and Chapter 1004, Acts of the 71st Legislature, Regular
1-8 Session, 1989, is amended to read as follows:
1-9 (b) The social study may <shall> be made by any state
1-10 agency, including the Texas Department of Human Services or any
1-11 person appointed by the court. The court shall <may> appoint an
1-12 investigator to conduct the social study required by this section
1-13 who has the qualifications established by the rules of the Texas
1-14 Department of Human Services providing minimum qualifications for
1-15 persons who may conduct social studies. If the Texas Department of
1-16 Human Services, or another governmental agency, is appointed, the
1-17 person who conducts the investigation and makes the report must
1-18 also have those qualifications. A study made under this section
1-19 shall comply with the rules of the Texas Department of Human
1-20 Services establishing minimum standards, guidelines, and procedures
1-21 for social studies <or the criteria established by the court>. A
1-22 study made under this section must also comply with the minimum
1-23 standards for child placing agencies established by the Texas
1-24 Department of Human Services regardless of whether the study is
2-1 made by a child placing agency or a person who is not associated
2-2 with a child placing agency. This social study shall contain any
2-3 history of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse suffered by the
2-4 child. In a suit in which adoption is sought or possession of or
2-5 access to the child is an issue and in which the Texas Department
2-6 of Human Services is not a party or has no interest, the court
2-7 shall appoint a private agency or person to conduct the social
2-8 study. In all adoptions a copy of the social study shall be made
2-9 available to the prospective adoptive parents prior to a final
2-10 decree of adoption. <In a suit in which a social study is ordered
2-11 and in which the Texas Department of Human Services is not a party
2-12 or has no interest, the court may not appoint the department to
2-13 conduct the social study.>
2-14 SECTION 2. Chapter 15, Family Code, is amended by adding
2-15 Section 15.042 to read as follows:
2-16 Sec. 15.042. SOCIAL STUDY REQUIRED. (a) Except as provided
2-17 by Subsection (b) of this section, a court may not terminate the
2-18 parent-child relationship between a child and a parent of the child
2-19 or appoint a managing conservator of a child under this chapter
2-20 unless the court accepts a social study into evidence concerning
2-21 the person who may adopt the child.
2-22 (b) This section does not apply to a proceeding in which the
2-23 court appoints the parent of the child, an authorized agency, or
2-24 the Texas Department of Human Services as the managing conservator
2-25 of a child.
2-26 SECTION 3. Section 16.031, Family Code, is amended to read
2-27 as follows:
3-1 Sec. 16.031. Social Study<: Time for Hearing>. (a) In a
3-2 suit affecting the parent-child relationship in which an adoption
3-3 is sought, the court shall order the making of a social study as
3-4 provided in Section 11.12 of this code <and shall set a date for
3-5 its filing>.
3-6 (b) Unless the petitioner has received the child for
3-7 adoption from an authorized agency or the Texas Department of Human
3-8 Services, a petitioner may not be appointed as a managing
3-9 conservator of a child or receive a child for adoption until a
3-10 social study has been conducted and accepted into evidence by the
3-11 court as required by Section 15.042 of this code. <The court shall
3-12 set the date for the hearing on the adoption at a time not later
3-13 than 60 days, nor earlier than 40 days, after the date on which the
3-14 investigator is appointed. For good cause shown, the court may set
3-15 the hearing at any time that provides adequate time for filing the
3-16 report of the study.>
3-17 (c) The report of a social study made under this section
3-18 must include the results of an investigation of the criminal
3-19 history information record under Section 22.006, Human Resources
3-20 Code, requested by the person or agency conducting the social study
3-21 for each petitioner seeking to adopt the child and each adult who
3-22 resides in the home in which the child may be placed.
3-23 SECTION 4. Section 22.006, Human Resources Code, is amended
3-24 by amending Subsections (a) and (i) to read as follows:
3-25 (a) The department is entitled to obtain criminal history
3-26 information records maintained by the Department of Public Safety,
3-27 the Federal Bureau of Investigation identification division, or
4-1 another law enforcement agency to investigate:
4-2 (1) owners and employees of, and applicants for
4-3 employment at, a child-care facility licensed, registered, or
4-4 certified or applying for a license, registration, or certification
4-5 under Chapter 42 of this code;
4-6 (2) residents of a registered family home, excluding
4-7 children in the home's care and the parents of the children;
4-8 (3) a person providing or applying to provide adoptive
4-9 or foster care for children in the care of the department;
4-10 (4) a department employee who is engaged in the direct
4-11 delivery of protective services to children on the date the
4-12 department implements this section;
4-13 (5) a person applying for a position with the
4-14 department, the duties of which include direct delivery of
4-15 protective services to children;
4-16 (6) a volunteer or person applying as a volunteer with
4-17 a local affiliate in this state of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of
4-18 America or of a program known as "I Have a Dream/Houston";
4-19 (7) a person employed by a business entity which
4-20 provides in-home respite care of children with temporary illnesses;
4-21 (8) a person employed by a home health agency; <or>
4-22 (9) a volunteer or person applying as a volunteer with
4-23 an organization which provides court-appointed special advocates
4-24 for abused or neglected children; or
4-25 (10) a person seeking to adopt a child and each adult
4-26 who resides in the home in which the child may be placed for the
4-27 purposes of a social study ordered under Section 16.031, Family
5-1 Code.
5-2 (i) The department may charge a reasonable fee sufficient to
5-3 recover the costs of obtaining criminal history information records
5-4 authorized by Subsection (a)(7), <or> (a)(8), or (a)(10) of this
5-5 section.
5-6 SECTION 5. Section 25.11(a), Penal Code, is amended to read
5-7 as follows:
5-8 (a) A person commits an offense if he:
5-9 (1) possesses a child or has the custody,
5-10 conservatorship, or guardianship of a child, whether or not he has
5-11 actual possession of the child, and he offers to accept, agrees to
5-12 accept, or accepts a thing of value for the delivery of the child
5-13 to another or for the possession of the child by another for
5-14 purposes of adoption; <or>
5-15 (2) offers to give, agrees to give, or gives a thing
5-16 of value to another for acquiring or maintaining the possession of
5-17 a child for the purpose of adoption; or
5-18 (3) exchanges or offers or agrees to exchange a thing
5-19 of value for the referral of a person who may wish to relinquish a
5-20 child for the purpose of adoption.
5-21 SECTION 6. Chapter 25, Penal Code, is amended by adding
5-22 Section 25.12 to read as follows:
5-23 Sec. 25.12. ADVERTISING FOR PLACEMENT OF A MINOR. (a) A
5-24 person commits an offense if the person:
5-25 (1) advertises in the public media that the person
5-26 will place a minor for adoption or will accept, provide, or obtain
5-27 a minor for adoption; or
6-1 (2) causes an advertisement to be published in the
6-2 public media that solicits or requests a minor for adoption.
6-3 (b) This section does not apply to an authorized child
6-4 placing agency.
6-5 (c) An offense under this section is a felony of the third
6-6 degree unless the person has been convicted previously under this
6-7 section, in which event the offense is a felony of the second
6-8 degree.
6-9 SECTION 7. Sections 1-3 of this Act apply only to a suit
6-10 affecting the parent-child relationship in which a hearing on the
6-11 merits has not been held before the effective date of this Act,
6-12 without regard to whether the suit is filed before, on, or after
6-13 the effective date of this Act.
6-14 SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
6-15 SECTION 9. The importance of this legislation and the
6-16 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-17 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-18 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-19 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.