Amend SB 368 by adding the following appropriately numbered
SECTIONS and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of the bill
accordingly:
SECTION ____. Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 531.055 to read as follows:
Sec. 531.055. FAMILY-BASED ALTERNATIVES FOR CHILDREN. (a)
The purpose of the system of family-based alternatives required by
this section is to further the state's policy of providing for a
child's basic needs for safety, security, and stability through
ensuring that a child becomes a part of a successful permanent
family as soon as possible.
(b) In achieving the purpose described by Subsection (a),
the system is intended to be operated in a manner that recognizes
that parents are a valued and integral part of the process
established under the system. The system shall encourage parents to
participate in all decisions affecting their children and shall
respect the authority of parents, other than parents whose parental
rights have been terminated, to make decisions regarding their
children.
(c) In this section:
(1) "Child" means a person younger than 22 years of
age who has a physical or developmental disability or who is
medically fragile.
(2) "Family-based alternative" means a family setting
in which the family provider or providers are specially trained to
provide support and in-home care for children with disabilities or
children who are medically fragile.
(3) "Institution" means any congregate care facility,
including:
(A) a nursing home;
(B) an ICF-MR facility, as defined by Section
531.002, Health and Safety Code;
(C) a group home operated by the Texas
Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation; and
(D) an institution for the mentally retarded
licensed by the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
(4) "Waiver services" means services provided under:
(A) the Medically Dependent Children Program;
(B) the Community Living Assistance and Support
Services Program;
(C) the Home and Community-based Waiver Services
Program, including the HCS-OBRA Program;
(D) the Mental Retardation-Local Authority Pilot
Project (MRLA);
(E) the Deaf, Blind, and Multiply Disabled
Program; and
(F) any other Section 1915(c) waiver program
that provides long-term care services for children.
(d) The commission shall contract with a community
organization, including a faith-based community organization, or a
nonprofit organization for the development and implementation of a
system under which a child who cannot reside with the child's birth
family may receive necessary services in a family-based alternative
instead of an institution. To be eligible for the contract under
this subsection, an organization must possess knowledge regarding
the support needs of children with disabilities and their families.
For purposes of this subsection, a community organization,
including a faith-based community organization, or a nonprofit
organization does not include:
(1) any governmental entity; or
(2) any quasi-governmental entity to which a state
agency delegates its authority and responsibility for planning,
supervising, providing, or ensuring the provision of state
services.
(e) The contractor may subcontract for one or more
components of implementation of the system with:
(1) community organizations, including faith-based
community organizations;
(2) nonprofit organizations;
(3) governmental entities; or
(4) quasi-governmental entities to which state
agencies delegate authority and responsibility for planning,
supervising, providing, or ensuring the provision of state
services.
(f) The commission shall begin implementation of the system
in areas of this state with high numbers of children who reside in
institutions.
(g) Each affected health and human services agency shall
cooperate with the contractor and any subcontractors and take all
action necessary to implement the system and comply with the
requirements of this section. The commission has final authority
to make any decisions and resolve any disputes regarding the
system.
(h) The system may be administered in cooperation with
public and private entities.
(i) The system must provide for:
(1) recruiting and training alternative families to
provide services for children;
(2) comprehensively assessing each child in need of
services and each alternative family available to provide services,
as necessary to identify the most appropriate alternative family
for placement of the child;
(3) providing to a child's parents or guardian
information regarding the availability of a family-based
alternative;
(4) identifying each child residing in an institution
and offering support services, including waiver services, that
would enable the child to return to the child's birth family or be
placed in a family-based alternative; and
(5) determining through a child's permanency plan
other circumstances in which the child must be offered waiver
services, including circumstances in which changes in an
institution's status affect the child's placement or the quality of
services received by the child.
(j) In complying with the requirement imposed by Subsection
(i)(3), the commission shall ensure that the procedures for
providing information to parents or a guardian permit and encourage
the participation of an individual who is not affiliated with the
institution in which the child resides or with an institution in
which the child could be placed.
(k) In placing a child in a family-based alternative, the
system may use a variety of placement options, including an
arrangement in which shared parenting occurs between the
alternative family and the child's birth family. Regardless of the
option used, a family-based alternative placement must be designed
to be a long-term arrangement, except in cases in which the child's
birth family chooses to return the child to their home. In cases
in which the birth family's parental rights have been terminated,
adoption of the child by the child's alternative family is an
available option.
(l) The commission or the contractor may solicit and accept
gifts, grants, and donations to support the system's functions
under this section.
(m) In designing the system, the commission shall consider
and, when appropriate, incorporate current research and
recommendations developed by other public and private entities
involved in analyzing public policy relating to children residing
in institutions.
(n) As necessary to implement this section, the commission
shall:
(1) ensure that an appropriate number of openings for
waiver services that become available as a result of funding for
the purpose of transferring persons with disabilities into
community-based services are made available to both children and
adults;
(2) ensure that service definitions applicable to
waiver services are modified as necessary to permit the provision
of waiver services through family-based alternatives;
(3) ensure that procedures are implemented for making
a level of care determination for each child and identifying the
most appropriate waiver service for the child, including procedures
under which the director of long-term care for the commission,
after considering any preference of the child's birth family or
alternative family, resolves disputes among agencies about the most
appropriate waiver service; and
(4) require that the health and human services agency
responsible for providing a specific waiver service to a child also
assume responsibility for identifying any necessary transition
activities or services.
(o) Not later than January 1 of each year, the commission
shall report to the legislature on the implementation of the
system. The report must include a statement of:
(1) the number of children currently receiving care in
an institution;
(2) the number of children placed in a family-based
alternative under the system during the preceding year;
(3) the number of children who left an institution
during the preceding year under an arrangement other than a
family-based alternative under the system or for another reason
unrelated to the availability of a family-based alternative under
the system;
(4) the number of children waiting for an available
placement in a family-based alternative under the system; and
(5) the number of alternative families trained and
available to accept placement of a child under the system.
SECTION ____. Effective September 1, 2003, or a later date on
which the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services assumes
the functions of the Texas Department on Aging, as provided by
Chapter 1505, Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999,
a reference in Section 531.055, Government Code, as added by this
Act, to the commission means the Texas Department of Aging and
Disability Services. This section of this Act has no effect if the
Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services does not assume
the functions of the Texas Department on Aging.
SECTION ____. Notwithstanding Section 531.055(o), Government
Code, as added by this Act, the Health and Human Services
Commission shall submit the report required by that section
beginning with the report due on January 1, 2003.
SECTION ____. The Health and Human Services Commission shall:
(1) take all action necessary to ensure that requests
for proposals necessary to implement Section 531.055, Government
Code, as added by this Act, are issued as soon as possible after
the effective date of this Act; and
(2) include implementation timelines in any contract
executed by the commission after receiving responses to the
requests for proposals.
SECTION ____. The Health and Human Services Commission is
required to implement Section 531.055, Government Code, as added by
this Act, only if the legislature appropriates money specifically
for that purpose or the commission determines that other sources of
funding, including other legislative appropriations, federal funds,
gifts, grants, or donations, are available for that purpose. If
funding is available only for specific provisions of Section
531.055, Government Code, as added by this Act, the Health and
Human Services Commission shall implement those provisions to the
extent practicable, regardless of the lack of available funding for
the other provisions of that section.