| |
|
|
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. |