| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to notice given to certain persons before a change of |
|
|
placement for a child in foster care. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 264.018, Family Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsection (f) and adding Subsections (f-1) and (f-2) to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(f) Except as provided by Subsection (f-1) or (f-2), as [As] |
|
|
soon as possible but not later than the 10th day after the date the |
|
|
department becomes aware of a significant event affecting a child |
|
|
in the conservatorship of the department, the department shall |
|
|
provide notice of the significant event to: |
|
|
(1) the child's parent; |
|
|
(2) an attorney ad litem appointed for the child under |
|
|
Chapter 107; |
|
|
(3) a guardian ad litem appointed for the child under |
|
|
Chapter 107; |
|
|
(4) a volunteer advocate appointed for the child under |
|
|
Chapter 107; |
|
|
(5) the licensed administrator of the child-placing |
|
|
agency responsible for placing the child or the licensed |
|
|
administrator's designee; |
|
|
(6) a foster parent, prospective adoptive parent, |
|
|
relative of the child providing care to the child, or director of |
|
|
the group home or general residential operation where the child is |
|
|
residing; and |
|
|
(7) any other person determined by a court to have an |
|
|
interest in the child's welfare. |
|
|
(f-1) As soon as possible but not later than the fifth day |
|
|
after the date a child-placing agency notifies the department of |
|
|
the agency's intent to change the placement of a child in the |
|
|
conservatorship of the department, the department shall give notice |
|
|
of the impending placement change and the reason given for the |
|
|
placement change to: |
|
|
(1) the child's parent; |
|
|
(2) an attorney ad litem appointed for the child under |
|
|
Chapter 107; |
|
|
(3) a guardian ad litem appointed for the child under |
|
|
Chapter 107; |
|
|
(4) a volunteer advocate appointed for the child under |
|
|
Chapter 107; |
|
|
(5) a foster parent, prospective adoptive parent, |
|
|
relative of the child providing care to the child, or director of |
|
|
the group home or general residential operation where the child is |
|
|
residing; and |
|
|
(6) any other person determined by a court to have an |
|
|
interest in the child's welfare. |
|
|
(f-2) As soon as possible but not later than the fifth day |
|
|
after the date a foster parent requests the removal of a child in |
|
|
the conservatorship of the department from the foster home because |
|
|
of an increase or decrease in the child's service level, the |
|
|
department shall give notice of the impending placement change to: |
|
|
(1) the child's parent; |
|
|
(2) an attorney ad litem appointed for the child under |
|
|
Chapter 107; |
|
|
(3) a guardian ad litem appointed for the child under |
|
|
Chapter 107; |
|
|
(4) a volunteer advocate appointed for the child under |
|
|
Chapter 107; |
|
|
(5) the licensed administrator of the child-placing |
|
|
agency responsible for placing the child or the licensed |
|
|
administrator's designee; and |
|
|
(6) any other person determined by a court to have an |
|
|
interest in the child's welfare. |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. |