| TO: | Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives |
| FROM: | John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB2170 by Raymond (Relating to assisting a foster child in obtaining the child's credit report.), As Passed 2nd House |
The bill would require the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to ensure that each child in permanent managing conservatorship who is 16 years of age or older obtains a free copy of the child's credit report, and receives information about how to interpret the report and correct any inaccuracies in the report. The bill would take effect on September 1, 2011. It is assumed any cost to implement provisions of the bill would be minimal and can be absorbed within available resources.
The bill would establish a Foster Children's Bill of Rights, require DFPS to provide a written copy to each child placed in foster care, and require the agency to orally inform each child of his or her rights. It would allow foster children to sign a document acknowledging their understanding of the bill of rights which must be placed in the case file. It would require providers to give a copy of the bill of rights to foster children on request. It would also require the agency to print the bill of rights in English and a second language. And it would require the agency to implement a policy for handling reports that the rights of a foster child are not being observed. DFPS reports that a majority of this policy was implemented in December 2009, and indicates that tasks such as rewriting program policy, revising the current children's bill of rights, revising residential child-care licensing contract language, and training staff can be accomplished with existing agency resources.
| Source Agencies: | 530 Family and Protective Services, Department of
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, NM, CL, MB, VJC
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