78R614 SMJ-D
By: Farabee H.B. No. 799
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to providing temporary community-based therapeutic foster
care for certain children.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 534.053, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 534.053. REQUIRED COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES. (a) In
this section, "therapeutic foster care" means 24-hour living
arrangements with trained foster parents for a child who is
temporarily unable to live with the child's parent or other primary
caregiver, and specialized treatment and services that may include
training for the parent or other primary caregiver, training and
support for foster parents, crisis management services, and
individual, group, and family counseling.
(b) The department shall ensure that, at a minimum, the
following services are available in each service area:
(1) 24-hour emergency screening and rapid crisis
stabilization services;
(2) community-based crisis residential services or
hospitalization;
(3) community-based assessments, including the
development of interdisciplinary treatment plans and diagnosis and
evaluation services;
(4) family support services, including respite care;
(5) case management services;
(6) medication-related services, including medication
clinics, laboratory monitoring, medication education, mental
health maintenance education, and the provision of medication;
[and]
(7) psychosocial rehabilitation programs, including
social support activities, independent living skills, and
vocational training; and
(8) therapeutic foster care for a child for whom the
parent-child relationship has not been terminated.
(c) [(b)] The department shall arrange for appropriate
community-based services, including the assignment of a case
manager, to be available in each service area for each person
discharged from a department facility who is in need of care.
(d) [(c)] To the extent that resources are available, the
department shall:
(1) ensure that the services listed in this section
are available for children, including adolescents, and [as well as]
adults[,] in each service area;
(2) emphasize early intervention services for
children, including adolescents, who meet the department's
definition of being at high risk of developing severe emotional
disturbances or severe mental illnesses; and
(3) ensure that services listed in this section are
available for defendants required to submit to mental health
treatment under Article 17.032 or Section 5(a) or 11(d), Article
42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.