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78R614 SMJ-D

By:  Averitt                                                      S.B. No. 246



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.