Bill Text: TX HB781 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Enrolled

Texas House Bill 781 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Relating to caregiver screening and training by substitute care providers for children in the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Services.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2015-06-19 - Effective on 9/1/15 [HB781 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB781-Enrolled.html



	H.B. No. 781




	AN ACT
	relating to caregiver screening and training by substitute care
	providers for children in the conservatorship of the Department of
	Family and Protective Services.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. Section 40.058, Human Resources Code, is amended
	by adding Subsections (f), (g), and (h) to read as follows:
	(f) A contract for residential child-care services provided
	by a general residential operation or by a child-placing agency
	must include provisions that:
	(1) enable the department to monitor the effectiveness
	of the services;
	(2) specify performance outcomes;
	(3) authorize the department to terminate the contract
	or impose sanctions for a violation of a provision of the contract
	that specifies performance criteria;
	(4) authorize the department, an agent of the
	department, and the state auditor to inspect all books, records,
	and files maintained by a contractor relating to the contract; and
	(5) are necessary, as determined by the department, to
	ensure accountability for the delivery of services and for the
	expenditure of public funds.
	(g) A contract with a private agency for the provision of
	substitute care or case management services for a child must
	include provisions that require the agency to provide access to the
	agency's information and records relating to the child to the
	child's attorney ad litem and guardian ad litem.
	(h) In contracting with licensed child-placing agencies for
	residential child-care services, the department shall:
	(1) determine and evaluate, using best practice
	standards, the home screening, assessment, and preservice training
	requirements used by substitute care providers before the
	verification and approval of caregivers, including:
	(A) risk assessment evaluations used; and
	(B) the curriculum and models used and topics
	covered in caregiver training; and
	(2) publish on the department's Internet website the
	information collected by the department regarding the curriculum
	and training models used and topics covered during caregiver
	training by substitute care providers.
	SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 42, Human Resources Code,
	is amended by adding Section 42.0537 to read as follows:
	Sec. 42.0537. CAREGIVER TRAINING REQUIREMENT. (a) The
	department shall include a provision in each contract with a
	child-placing agency with whom children in the managing
	conservatorship of the department are placed that requires the
	child-placing agency to provide at least 35 hours of
	competency-based, preservice training to a potential caregiver
	before the child-placing agency verifies or approves the caregiver
	as a foster or adoptive home.
	(b) The department shall adopt policies to ensure that each
	potential caregiver receives at least 35 hours of competency-based,
	preservice training before the department verifies or approves the
	caregiver as a foster or adoptive home.
	(c) The training required by this section does not apply to
	an individual who has been designated as a kinship caregiver and who
	is pursuing verification or licensure as a foster parent or
	approval as an adoptive parent.
	SECTION 3. The preservice training requirement under
	Section 42.0537, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, does
	not apply to an individual who was verified or approved as a
	caregiver by a substitute care provider before the effective date
	of this Act or to an individual who is in the process of being
	verified or approved as a caregiver by a substitute care provider on
	the effective date of this Act.
	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.


	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House


	I certify that H.B. No. 781 was passed by the House on April
	16, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 2, 2 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 781 on May 28, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 0, 2
	present, not voting.

	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House

	I certify that H.B. No. 781 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 26, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
	0.

	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date

	__________________
	Governor