Strengthening the Right of Children and Youth in Foster Care to Participate in Normal Activities and Experiences

Right of child/youth to participate in normalcy activities:

 Every child who comes into care in the state of Texas shall be entitled to participate in age-appropriate normalcy activities to benefit the child's physical and emotional well- being and to develop valuable life-coping skills

 “Normalcy activities” are defined as age-appropriate activities and experiences similar to those that children, who are not in out-of-home care, get to participate in given the same age, and cognitive, emotional, and physical capacity

 “Age-appropriate” is defined as activities or experiences that are generally accepted as suitable for children of the same chronological age or level of maturity or that are determined to be developmentally-appropriate for a child, based on the development of cognitive, emotional, physical, and behavioral capacities that are typical for an age or age group.

Reasonable and prudent parent standard:

 “Reasonable and prudent parent standard” is defined as the standard characterized by careful and sensible parental decisions that maintain the health, safety, and best interests of a child while at the same time encouraging the social, emotional and developmental growth and well-being of the child, that caregivers shall use when determining whether to allow a child in the custody of the state to participate in age- appropriate, normalcy activities and experiences.

 A caregiver shall use a reasonable and prudent parent standard in determining whether to permit a child to participate in an activity.

A caregiver shall consider:

(i) the child's age, maturity, and developmental level to maintain the overall health and safety of the child;

(ii) potential risk factors and the appropriateness of the activity;

(iii) the best interest of the child based on the caregiver's knowledge of the child; (iv) the importance of encouraging the child's social, emotional and developmental growth;

(v) the importance of providing the child with the most family-like living experience possible; and

(vi) the behavioral history of the child and the child's ability to safely participate in the proposed activity.

 The Department shall verify that private agencies providing out-of-home placement under contract with the division:

(i) promote and protect the ability of a child to participate in age-appropriate normalcy activities; and (ii) implement policies consistent with this section.

 The Department shall make efforts to normalize the lives of children in Child Protective Service’s custody and empower substitute caregivers to approve or disapprove a child’s participation in activities based on a caregiver’s own assessment and availability to help facilitate a child’s access to these activities, using a reasonable and prudent parent standard, without prior approval of the Department.  The Department shall allow a caregiver to make important decisions, similar to the decisions that a parent is entitled to make, regarding the child's participation in activities.

Addressing issues with Residential Child Care Licensing (RCCL) oversight:

 The Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) shall review RCCL policies and procedures to identify those policies and procedures which would impede the full implementation of this normalcy legislation, specifically as they impede the ability of caregivers to make reasonable and prudent parenting decisions. DFPS shall eliminate and streamline RCCL policies and procedures necessary to accommodate the full implementation of this new standard. This directive shall be applied to Statewide Intake as well.

Protections from liability:

 The foster parent and/or the associated child placing agency shall not be held responsible for potentially negative outcomes beyond their reasonable control as a result of the child’s participation in an age-appropriate normalcy activity, provided the activity is approved by the foster parent using the reasonable and prudent parent standard.

Addressing Service Plan limitations:

 A child’s service plan should reflect an elimination of impediments for the option of participating in normalcy activities. Any oversight of the service plan should be intended to ensure the caregiver understands the flexibility inherent in a range of normalcy activities, as defined above.  At each permanency and placement review hearing held with respect to the child, the Department of Family and Protective Services shall document the steps Child Protective Services is taking to ensure that 1.) the child’s foster family home or child care institution is following the reasonable and prudent parent standard; and 2.) the child has regular, ongoing opportunities to engage in age or developmentally appropriate activities (including by consulting with the child in an age-appropriate manner about the opportunities of the child to participate in the activities). Any oversight must not preclude the child from participating in normalcy activities not listed in their service plan or documentation for court hearings.

Normalcy training:

 The Department shall require training for residential staff, child placing agency staff, foster parents, kinship providers and residential child care licensing staff. This training must include instruction on decision-making as a “reasonable and prudent parent”, appropriate and trauma-informed ways to deal with a child or youth’s misbehavior, the importance of a child’s participation in normal adolescent activities and experiences, and the benefits of such participation to a child’s social, emotional and developmental growth, well-being and mental health.