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Texas Statutes (Last Updated: January 4, 2014) |
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FAMILY CODE |
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Title 5. THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP AND THE SUIT AFFECTING THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP |
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Subtitle E. PROTECTION OF THE CHILD |
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Chapter 264. CHILD WELFARE SERVICES |
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Subchapter C. CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES |
Sec. 264.207. DEPARTMENT PLANNING AND ACCOUNTABILITY
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(a) The department shall adopt policies that provide for the improvement of the department's services for children and families, including policies that provide for conducting a home study within four months after the date an applicant is approved for an adoption and documenting the results of the home study within 30 days after the date the study is completed. The policies adopted under this section must:
(1) be designed to increase the accountability of the department to individuals who receive services and to the public; and
(2) assure consistency of services provided by the department in the different regions of the state.
(b) To accomplish the goals stated in Subsection (a), the department shall:
(1) establish time frames for the initial screening of families seeking to adopt children;
(2) provide for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the department's management-level employees in expeditiously making permanent placements for children;
(3) establish, as feasible, comprehensive assessment services in various locations in the state to determine the needs of children and families served by the department;
(4) emphasize and centralize the monitoring and promoting of the permanent placement of children receiving department services;
(5) establish goals and performance measures in the permanent placement of children;
(6) seek private licensed child-placing agencies to place a child in the department's managing conservatorship who has been available for permanent placement for more than 90 days;
(7) provide information to private licensed child-placing agencies concerning children under Subdivision (6);
(8) provide incentives for a private licensed child-placing agency that places a child, as defined by Section 162.301, under Subdivision (6);
(9) encourage foster parents to be approved by the department as both foster parents and adoptive parents;
(10) address failures by the department's service regions in making permanent placements for children in a reasonable time; and
(11) require the department's service regions to participate in the Texas Adoption Resources Exchange.