| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to persons entitled to notice of and to participation in a |
|
|
permanency hearing regarding a child in the conservatorship of the |
|
|
state. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 263.301(b), Family Code, is amended to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(b) The following persons are entitled to at least 10 days' |
|
|
notice of a permanency hearing and are entitled to present evidence |
|
|
and be heard at the hearing: |
|
|
(1) the department; |
|
|
(2) the foster parent, preadoptive parent, relative of |
|
|
the child providing care, or director of the group home or |
|
|
institution where the child is residing; |
|
|
(3) each parent of the child; |
|
|
(4) the managing conservator or guardian of the child; |
|
|
(5) an attorney ad litem appointed for the child under |
|
|
Chapter 107; |
|
|
(6) a volunteer advocate appointed for the child under |
|
|
Chapter 107; [and] |
|
|
(7) the child if: |
|
|
(A) the child is 10 years of age or older; or |
|
|
(B) the court determines it is appropriate for |
|
|
the child to receive notice; and |
|
|
(8) any other person or agency named by the court to |
|
|
have an interest in the child's welfare. |
|
|
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
|
|
to a permanency hearing held on or after September 10, 2013. A |
|
|
permanency hearing held before that date is governed by the law as |
|
|
it existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and |
|
|
that law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |