1-1     By:  Maxey, Naishtat, Coleman                          H.B. No. 885

 1-2          (Senate Sponsor - Zaffirini)

 1-3           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 14, 1997;

 1-4     April 16, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on Health

 1-5     and Human Services; May 1, 1997, reported favorably by the

 1-6     following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 1, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-7                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-8                                   AN ACT

 1-9     relating to required planning for the permanent placement of

1-10     certain children not residing with their families.

1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-12           SECTION 1.  Chapter 531, Government Code, is amended by

1-13     adding Subchapter D to read as follows:

1-14                     SUBCHAPTER D.  PERMANENCY PLANNING

1-15           Sec. 531.151.  DEFINITIONS.  In this subchapter:

1-16                 (1)  "Institution" means:

1-17                       (A)  an ICF-MR, as defined by Section 531.002,

1-18     Health and Safety Code;

1-19                       (B)  a nursing facility;

1-20                       (C)  a residential facility licensed by the

1-21     Department of Protective and Regulatory Services; or

1-22                       (D)  another residential arrangement that

1-23     provides care to four or more children who are unrelated to each

1-24     other.

1-25                 (2)  "Permanency planning" means a philosophy and

1-26     planning process that focuses on the outcome of family support by

1-27     facilitating a permanent living arrangement with the primary

1-28     feature of an enduring and nurturing parental relationship.

1-29           Sec. 531.152.  POLICY STATEMENT.  It is the policy of the

1-30     state to strive to ensure that the basic needs for safety,

1-31     security, and stability are met for each child in Texas.  A

1-32     successful family is the most efficient and effective way to meet

1-33     those needs.  The state and local communities must work together to

1-34     provide encouragement and support for well-functioning families and

1-35     ensure that each child receives the benefits of being a part of a

1-36     successful permanent family as soon as possible.

1-37           Sec. 531.153.  DEVELOPMENT OF PERMANENCY PLAN.  To further

1-38     the policy stated in Section 531.152, the commission and each

1-39     appropriate health and human services agency shall develop

1-40     procedures to ensure that a permanency plan is developed for each

1-41     child residing in an institution in this state on a temporary or

1-42     long-term basis or for whom institutional care is sought.

1-43           Sec. 531.154.  LOCAL PERMANENCY PLANNING SITES.  The

1-44     commission shall develop an implementation system that consists

1-45     initially of four or more local sites and that is designed to

1-46     coordinate planning for a permanent living arrangement and

1-47     relationship for a child with a family.  In developing the system,

1-48     the commission shall:

1-49                 (1)  include criteria to identify children who need

1-50     permanency plans;

1-51                 (2)  require the establishment of a permanency plan for

1-52     each child who  lives outside the child's family or for whom care

1-53     or protection is sought in an institution;

1-54                 (3)  include a process to determine the agency or

1-55     entity responsible for developing and overseeing implementation of

1-56     a child's permanency plan;

1-57                 (4)  identify, blend, and use funds from all available

1-58     sources to provide customized services and programs to implement a

1-59     child's permanency plan;

1-60                 (5)  clarify and expand the role of a local community

1-61     resource coordination group in ensuring accountability for a child

1-62     who resides in an institution or who is at risk of being placed in

1-63     an institution;

1-64                 (6)  require reporting of each placement or potential

 2-1     placement of a child in an institution or other living arrangement

 2-2     outside of the child's home; and

 2-3                 (7)  assign in each local permanency planning site area

 2-4     a single gatekeeper for all children in the area for whom placement

 2-5     in an institution through a program funded by the state is sought

 2-6     with authority to ensure that:

 2-7                       (A)  family members of each child are aware of:

 2-8                             (i)  intensive services that could prevent

 2-9     placement of the child in an institution; and

2-10                             (ii)  available placement options; and

2-11                       (B)  permanency planning is initiated for each

2-12     child.

2-13           Sec. 531.155.  PERMANENCY REPORTING.  For each of the local

2-14     permanency planning sites, the commission shall develop a reporting

2-15     system under which each appropriate health and human services

2-16     agency responsible for permanency planning under this subchapter is

2-17     required to provide to the commission semiannually:

2-18                 (1)  the number of permanency plans developed by the

2-19     agency for children residing in institutions or children at risk of

2-20     being placed in institutions;

2-21                 (2)  progress achieved in implementing permanency

2-22     plans;

2-23                 (3)  the number of children served by the agency

2-24     residing in institutions;

2-25                 (4)  the number of children served by the agency at

2-26     risk of being placed in an institution served by the local

2-27     permanency planning sites;

2-28                 (5)  the number of children served by the agency

2-29     reunited with their families or placed with alternate permanent

2-30     families; and

2-31                 (6)  cost data related to the development and

2-32     implementation of permanency plans.

2-33           SECTION 2.  Not later than December 1, 1998, the Health and

2-34     Human Services Commission shall prepare and deliver to the

2-35     governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of

2-36     representatives, and clerks of the standing committees of the

2-37     senate and house of representatives with primary jurisdiction over

2-38     the welfare of children a report concerning:

2-39                 (1)  the status of the local permanency planning sites

2-40     required by Section 531.154, Government Code, as added by this Act;

2-41                 (2)  the status of permanency planning implementation;

2-42     and

2-43                 (3)  the commission's recommendations on how to

2-44     implement a local permanency planning site system statewide, based

2-45     on experience with the local permanency planning sites.

2-46           SECTION 3.  Not later than December 1, 1998, each state

2-47     agency responsible for providing residential care for children

2-48     shall:

2-49                 (1)  develop methods to include permanency planning as

2-50     a goal in each care plan developed by the agency for a child living

2-51     outside a family setting; and

2-52                 (2)  prepare and deliver a report concerning

2-53     implementation of the methods developed under Subdivision (1) of

2-54     this section to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the

2-55     house of representatives, and clerks of the standing committees of

2-56     the senate and house of representatives with primary jurisdiction

2-57     over the welfare of children.

2-58           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-59     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-60     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-61     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-62     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-63     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-64     passage, and it is so enacted.

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