Texas HB 5 (2017): DFPS Becomes a Stand-Alone Agency

This bill is law. It took effect September 1, 2017.

The official bill history says HB 5 took effect September 1, 2017, except Section 24, which took effect immediately. The Governor signed it on May 31, 2017.

The short answer

HB 5 changed how DFPS, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, is set up. It took DFPS out of the state's health and human services system and made it a stand-alone agency. The governor appoints the DFPS commissioner, and a public council helps the commissioner develop DFPS rules and policies.

What it changes

A separate agency. HB 5 separated DFPS from the health and human services system run by the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). It also moved certain functions from HHSC to DFPS. According to the Senate Research Center's analysis, the goal was to better meet the needs of children in foster care and at-risk youth by taking DFPS out from under HHSC's direction.

Who leads DFPS. The governor appoints the DFPS commissioner, with the advice and consent of the Texas Senate. The commissioner serves a two-year term.

A public council. HB 5 created the Family and Protective Services Council to help the commissioner develop rules and policies. The council has nine members of the public, appointed by the governor. It studies and makes recommendations on how DFPS is run. That includes rules on how services are delivered and on the rights and duties of the people DFPS serves.

Child-care facility investigations. Investigations of abuse, neglect or exploitation at child-care facilities, including residential facilities, stay with DFPS. They may not be moved to HHSC. The commissioner had to move these investigations to DFPS's child protective services division. The House Research Organization reports that this change took effect May 31, 2017.

Care for children in foster care. HHSC must keep providing the services it gave children in DFPS conservatorship before September 1, 2017. HHSC is also in charge of the managed care contracts for foster children's medical care, according to the House Research Organization. DFPS must make a good faith effort to share information with health and human services agencies, so care continues without gaps.

Siblings and adoption. DFPS must tell people who want to adopt a child from DFPS that the child's sibling has a right to file a suit asking for access to the child.

Which laws it affects

• Human Resources Code Chapter 40, including §40.021 (Family and Protective Services Council), §40.027 (commissioner) and §40.0512 (information sharing).
• Government Code §531.02013 (functions that stay with DFPS), changed by Section 24, the part that took effect immediately.
• Family Code §162.0086 (information on sibling access, new) and §266.013 (continuity of HHSC services, new).

None of these sections is in this site's law library yet, so they are named here in plain text.

Related

• Texas HB 7 (2017): CPS Court Case Reforms: the 2017 bill on CPS court cases
• Texas SB 11 (2017): Community-Based Care and CPS Changes: the 2017 community-based care law
• Texas HB 4 (2017): Payments for Relative and Kin Caregivers: the 2017 law on payments to relative caregivers
• The Texas CPS Investigation Process, Step by Step (Family Code §§261.301–261.302)