By Harris S.B. No. 345
75R3135 JMM-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the requirement that the Department of Protective and
1-3 Regulatory Services perform investigations regarding children born
1-4 addicted to certain substances.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 161.001, Family Code, is amended to read
1-7 as follows:
1-8 Sec. 161.001. INVOLUNTARY TERMINATION OF PARENT-CHILD
1-9 RELATIONSHIP. The court may order termination of the parent-child
1-10 relationship if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence:
1-11 (1) that the parent has:
1-12 (A) voluntarily left the child alone or in the
1-13 possession of another not the parent and expressed an intent not to
1-14 return;
1-15 (B) voluntarily left the child alone or in the
1-16 possession of another not the parent without expressing an intent
1-17 to return, without providing for the adequate support of the child,
1-18 and remained away for a period of at least three months;
1-19 (C) voluntarily left the child alone or in the
1-20 possession of another without providing adequate support of the
1-21 child and remained away for a period of at least six months;
1-22 (D) knowingly placed or knowingly allowed the
1-23 child to remain in conditions or surroundings which endanger the
1-24 physical or emotional well-being of the child;
2-1 (E) engaged in conduct or knowingly placed the
2-2 child with persons who engaged in conduct which endangers the
2-3 physical or emotional well-being of the child;
2-4 (F) failed to support the child in accordance
2-5 with his ability during a period of one year ending within six
2-6 months of the date of the filing of the petition;
2-7 (G) abandoned the child without identifying the
2-8 child or furnishing means of identification, and the child's
2-9 identity cannot be ascertained by the exercise of reasonable
2-10 diligence;
2-11 (H) voluntarily, and with knowledge of the
2-12 pregnancy, abandoned the mother of the child beginning at a time
2-13 during her pregnancy with the child and continuing through the
2-14 birth, failed to provide adequate support or medical care for the
2-15 mother during the period of abandonment before the birth of the
2-16 child, and remained apart from the child or failed to support the
2-17 child since the birth;
2-18 (I) contumaciously refused to submit to a
2-19 reasonable and lawful order of a court under Chapter 264;
2-20 (J) been the major cause of:
2-21 (i) the failure of the child to be
2-22 enrolled in school as required by the Education Code; or
2-23 (ii) the child's absence from the child's
2-24 home without the consent of the parents or guardian for a
2-25 substantial length of time or without the intent to return;
2-26 (K) executed before or after the suit is filed
2-27 an unrevoked or irrevocable affidavit of relinquishment of parental
3-1 rights as provided by this chapter;
3-2 (L) been adjudicated to be criminally
3-3 responsible for the death or serious injury of a child;
3-4 (M) had his or her parent-child relationship
3-5 terminated with respect to another child based on a finding that
3-6 the parent's conduct was in violation of Paragraph (D) or (E); [or]
3-7 (N) constructively abandoned the child who has
3-8 been in the permanent or temporary managing conservatorship of the
3-9 Department of Protective and Regulatory Services or an authorized
3-10 agency for not less than one year, and:
3-11 (i) the department or authorized agency
3-12 has made reasonable efforts to return the child to the parent;
3-13 (ii) the parent has not visited or
3-14 maintained contact with the child; and
3-15 (iii) the parent has demonstrated an
3-16 inability to provide the child with a safe environment; or
3-17 (O) been the cause of the child being born
3-18 addicted to alcohol or a controlled substance as defined by Chapter
3-19 481, Health and Safety Code; and
3-20 (2) that termination is in the best interest of the
3-21 child.
3-22 SECTION 2. Section 261.001(1), Family Code, is amended to
3-23 read as follows:
3-24 (1) "Abuse" includes the following acts or omissions
3-25 by a person:
3-26 (A) mental or emotional injury to a child that
3-27 results in an observable and material impairment in the child's
4-1 growth, development, or psychological functioning;
4-2 (B) causing or permitting the child to be in a
4-3 situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury
4-4 that results in an observable and material impairment in the
4-5 child's growth, development, or psychological functioning;
4-6 (C) physical injury that results in substantial
4-7 harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from
4-8 physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at
4-9 variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an
4-10 accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or
4-11 managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child
4-12 to a substantial risk of harm;
4-13 (D) failure to make a reasonable effort to
4-14 prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury
4-15 that results in substantial harm to the child;
4-16 (E) sexual conduct harmful to a child's mental,
4-17 emotional, or physical welfare;
4-18 (F) failure to make a reasonable effort to
4-19 prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;
4-20 (G) compelling or encouraging the child to
4-21 engage in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal Code;
4-22 [or]
4-23 (H) causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging
4-24 in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the
4-25 child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting
4-26 photograph, film, or depiction of the child is obscene as defined
4-27 by Section 43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic; or
5-1 (I) causing the child to be born addicted to
5-2 alcohol or a controlled substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health
5-3 and Safety Code.
5-4 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
5-5 applies only to a child born on or after that date.
5-6 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.