1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to required planning for the permanent placement of
1-3 certain children not residing with their families.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 531, Government Code, is amended by
1-6 adding Subchapter D to read as follows:
1-7 SUBCHAPTER D. PERMANENCY PLANNING
1-8 Sec. 531.151. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
1-9 (1) "Institution" means:
1-10 (A) an ICF-MR, as defined by Section 531.002,
1-11 Health and Safety Code;
1-12 (B) a nursing facility;
1-13 (C) a residential facility licensed by the
1-14 Department of Protective and Regulatory Services; or
1-15 (D) another residential arrangement that
1-16 provides care to four or more children who are unrelated to each
1-17 other.
1-18 (2) "Permanency planning" means a philosophy and
1-19 planning process that focuses on the outcome of family support by
1-20 facilitating a permanent living arrangement with the primary
1-21 feature of an enduring and nurturing parental relationship.
1-22 Sec. 531.152. POLICY STATEMENT. It is the policy of the
1-23 state to strive to ensure that the basic needs for safety,
1-24 security, and stability are met for each child in Texas. A
2-1 successful family is the most efficient and effective way to meet
2-2 those needs. The state and local communities must work together to
2-3 provide encouragement and support for well-functioning families and
2-4 ensure that each child receives the benefits of being a part of a
2-5 successful permanent family as soon as possible.
2-6 Sec. 531.153. DEVELOPMENT OF PERMANENCY PLAN. To further
2-7 the policy stated in Section 531.152, the commission and each
2-8 appropriate health and human services agency shall develop
2-9 procedures to ensure that a permanency plan is developed for each
2-10 child residing in an institution in this state on a temporary or
2-11 long-term basis or for whom institutional care is sought.
2-12 Sec. 531.154. LOCAL PERMANENCY PLANNING SITES. The
2-13 commission shall develop an implementation system that consists
2-14 initially of four or more local sites and that is designed to
2-15 coordinate planning for a permanent living arrangement and
2-16 relationship for a child with a family. In developing the system,
2-17 the commission shall:
2-18 (1) include criteria to identify children who need
2-19 permanency plans;
2-20 (2) require the establishment of a permanency plan for
2-21 each child who lives outside the child's family or for whom care
2-22 or protection is sought in an institution;
2-23 (3) include a process to determine the agency or
2-24 entity responsible for developing and overseeing implementation of
2-25 a child's permanency plan;
2-26 (4) identify, blend, and use funds from all available
2-27 sources to provide customized services and programs to implement a
3-1 child's permanency plan;
3-2 (5) clarify and expand the role of a local community
3-3 resource coordination group in ensuring accountability for a child
3-4 who resides in an institution or who is at risk of being placed in
3-5 an institution;
3-6 (6) require reporting of each placement or potential
3-7 placement of a child in an institution or other living arrangement
3-8 outside of the child's home; and
3-9 (7) assign in each local permanency planning site area
3-10 a single gatekeeper for all children in the area for whom placement
3-11 in an institution through a program funded by the state is sought
3-12 with authority to ensure that:
3-13 (A) family members of each child are aware of:
3-14 (i) intensive services that could prevent
3-15 placement of the child in an institution; and
3-16 (ii) available placement options; and
3-17 (B) permanency planning is initiated for each
3-18 child.
3-19 Sec. 531.155. PERMANENCY REPORTING. For each of the local
3-20 permanency planning sites, the commission shall develop a reporting
3-21 system under which each appropriate health and human services
3-22 agency responsible for permanency planning under this subchapter is
3-23 required to provide to the commission semiannually:
3-24 (1) the number of permanency plans developed by the
3-25 agency for children residing in institutions or children at risk of
3-26 being placed in institutions;
3-27 (2) progress achieved in implementing permanency
4-1 plans;
4-2 (3) the number of children served by the agency
4-3 residing in institutions;
4-4 (4) the number of children served by the agency at
4-5 risk of being placed in an institution served by the local
4-6 permanency planning sites;
4-7 (5) the number of children served by the agency
4-8 reunited with their families or placed with alternate permanent
4-9 families; and
4-10 (6) cost data related to the development and
4-11 implementation of permanency plans.
4-12 SECTION 2. Not later than December 1, 1998, the Health and
4-13 Human Services Commission shall prepare and deliver to the
4-14 governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of
4-15 representatives, and clerks of the standing committees of the
4-16 senate and house of representatives with primary jurisdiction over
4-17 the welfare of children a report concerning:
4-18 (1) the status of the local permanency planning sites
4-19 required by Section 531.154, Government Code, as added by this Act;
4-20 (2) the status of permanency planning implementation;
4-21 and
4-22 (3) the commission's recommendations on how to
4-23 implement a local permanency planning site system statewide, based
4-24 on experience with the local permanency planning sites.
4-25 SECTION 3. Not later than December 1, 1998, each state
4-26 agency responsible for providing residential care for children
4-27 shall:
5-1 (1) develop methods to include permanency planning as
5-2 a goal in each care plan developed by the agency for a child living
5-3 outside a family setting; and
5-4 (2) prepare and deliver a report concerning
5-5 implementation of the methods developed under Subdivision (1) of
5-6 this section to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the
5-7 house of representatives, and clerks of the standing committees of
5-8 the senate and house of representatives with primary jurisdiction
5-9 over the welfare of children.
5-10 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-15 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-16 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 885 was passed by the House on April
11, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 132, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 885 was passed by the Senate on May
12, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor