By: Watson S.B. No. 1288
 
 
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the Department of Family and Protective Services
  reporting certain information regarding youth in the managing
  conservatorship of the department who are pregnant or who are
  parents.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 264.017(b), Family Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (b)  The department, in collaboration with the Texas Health
  and Human Services Commission where appropriate, shall provide the
  report required by Subsection (a) to the legislature and shall
  publish the report and make the report available electronically to
  the public not later than April [February] 1 of each year. The
  report must include, with respect to the preceding year:
               (1)  information on the number and disposition of
  reports of child abuse and neglect received by the department;
               (2)  information on the number of clients for whom the
  department took protective action, including investigations,
  alternative responses, and court-ordered removals;
               (3)  information on the number of clients for whom the
  department provided services in each program administered by the
  child protective services division, including investigations,
  alternative responses, family-based safety services,
  conservatorship, post-adoption services, and transitional living
  services;
               (4)  the number of children in this state who died as a
  result of child abuse or neglect;
               (5)  the number of children described by Subdivision
  (4) for whom the department was the children's managing conservator
  at the time of death;
               (6)  information on the timeliness of the department's
  initial contact in an investigation or alternative response;
               (7)  information on the response time by the department
  in commencing services to families and children for whom an
  allegation of child abuse or neglect has been made;
               (8)  information regarding child protection staffing
  and caseloads by program area;
               (9)  information on the permanency goals in place and
  achieved for children in the managing conservatorship of the
  department, including information on the timeliness of achieving
  the goals, the stability of the children's placement in foster
  care, and the proximity of placements to the children's home
  counties;
               (10)  the number of children who suffer from a severe
  emotional disturbance and for whom the department is appointed
  managing conservator, including statistics on appointments as
  joint managing conservator, due to an individual voluntarily
  relinquishing custody of a child solely to obtain mental health
  services for the child;
               (11)  the following information regarding youth
  [number of children] who are [were] pregnant or who are parents [a
  parent] while in the managing conservatorship of the department,
  extended care, or who have emancipated:
                     (A)  the number of female youth in the managing
  conservatorship of the department who experienced a pregnancy in
  the prior year as determined by STAR Health encounter claims,
  compared to the total number of female youth enrolled in STAR
  Health, reported according to the following age groups:
                           (i)  youth who are ten to fourteen years old;
                           (ii)  youth who are fifteen, sixteen, or
  seventeen years old; and
                           (iii)  youth who are eighteen or nineteen
  years old and who are in care, extended care, or who have
  emancipated.
                     (B)  the number of female youth in the managing
  conservatorship of the department who gave birth to a child in the
  prior year as determined by STAR Health encounter claims, compared
  to the total number of female youth enrolled in STAR Health,
  reported according to the following age groups:
                           (i)  youth who are ten to fourteen years old;
                           (ii)  youth who are fifteen, sixteen, or
  seventeen years old; and
                           (iii)  youth who are eighteen or nineteen
  years old and who are in care, extended care, or who have
  emancipated.
                     (C)  the number of youth in the managing
  conservatorship of the department who are younger than 22 years of
  age and who are parents and the following disaggregated information
  about parenting youth:
                           (i)  gender;
                           (ii)  age on August 31;
                           (iii)  race and ethnicity; 
                           (iv)  the type of substitute care in which
  the youth are placed on August 31st; and
                           (v)  the average number of placements in
  which parenting youth have been placed during the Fiscal Year; and
                           (vi)  whether parenting youth are adopted,
  reunited with the youth's family, or emancipated and the length of
  time the youth was in care at the time of the exit;
                     (D)  the number of children of a parent in the
  managing conservatorship of the department who are placed in the
  managing conservatorship of the department in a Fiscal Year and the
  percentage of children placed with their parent;
                     (E)  the number of unduplicated youth in the
  managing conservatorship of the department who are pregnant at the
  time the youth enters the conservatorship of the department; and
                     (F)  the number of unduplicated youth in the
  managing conservatorship of the department who become pregnant
  while in the conservatorship of the department [and the number of
  the children born to a parent in the managing conservatorship of the
  department who are placed in the managing conservatorship of the
  department];
               (12)  the number of children who are missing from the
  children's substitute care provider while in the managing
  conservatorship of the department; and
               (13)  the number of children who were victims of
  trafficking under Chapter 20A, Penal Code, while in the managing
  conservatorship of the department.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.