Posted on March 20, 2009, 11:36 am, by Brooke

Texas state Rep. Harvey Hilderbran on March 13 filed a bill that addresses when a child can be removed from a home.

HB 4255 adds this paragraph to the Texas Family Code:

“In making a determination under Subsection (b), the court may find that based on the circumstances no reasonable efforts would prevent or eliminate the need to remove a child and that the department satisfied the requirements of Subsection (b) even though the department made no efforts to prevent or eliminate the need to remove a child.”

Here is what Subsection (b) says: “In determining the reasonable efforts, if any, that are required to be made with respect to preventing or eliminating the need to remove a child from the child’s home or to make it possible to return a child to the child’s home, the child’s health and safety is the paramount concern.”

So, if I am reading the proposed language correctly, under some circumstances, the Department of Family and Protective Services could make no effort to keep a child in a home, which is exactly what happened in the YFZ Ranch investigation. The language is contrary to Texas’ stated policy of making family-based services a priority (see blog on testimony before the Human Services committee).

The proposed bill also would allow a court to issue a temporary restraining order for the removal of an alleged perpetrator if it is satisfied that “the parent or other adult with whom the child will continue to reside in the child’s home is likely to (a) make a reasonable effort to monitor the residence and (b) report to the department and the appropriate law enforcement agency any attempt by the alleged perpetrator to return to the residence.”

If adopted, the department could argue that a child should not be returned to such a home if the parent or other adult can not provide the assurances in (a) and (b), issues raised last year in the case of Barbara Jessop’s 14-year-0ld daughter.

http://166.70.44.68/blogs/plurallife/2009/03/texas-bill-related-to-yfz-ranch/comment-page-3/

Emphasis added by H4K Editor