40 Tex. Admin. Code § 700.203 - Access to Confidential Information Maintained by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS)
(a) DFPS may release case record information
made confidential under §
261.201(a)
of the Texas Family Code to any person or entity authorized to receive
confidential abuse or neglect information under state or federal law, including
the following listed persons or entities:
(1)
DFPS staff, including authorized volunteers, as necessary to perform their
assigned duties;
(2) a properly
constituted authority, and its multi-disciplinary team members, legally
authorized to handle or assist in the investigation, prosecution, or resolution
of cases of suspected child abuse or neglect or to provide services to the
child or the child's family, including children's advocacy centers, child
fatality review teams, citizen review teams, Disability Rights Texas, county
child welfare boards, and any authority mandated under another state's law to
investigate allegations of child abuse or neglect;
(3) local, state, or federal law enforcement
officials for the purpose of investigating allegations of:
(A) child abuse or neglect, including any
crime that contains an element that would meet the definition of child abuse or
neglect;
(B) false or malicious
reporting of alleged child abuse or neglect; or
(C) failure to report child abuse or
neglect;
(4) a physician
who has before him a child who the physician reasonably suspects may be the
victim of child abuse or neglect and the physician requires this information to
provide a diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment for the child;
(5) a local, state, or federal government
official, to the extent permitted under federal law or when deemed necessary
for the protection and care of a child;
(6) a grand jury;
(7) an attorney ad litem, guardian ad litem,
or court appointed special advocate of an alleged victim of child abuse and
neglect;
(8) a court of competent
jurisdiction in a criminal or civil case arising out of an investigation of
child abuse and neglect;
(9) an
attorney of DFPS, the attorney general of the state, or a county attorney or
district attorney, when such attorney represents the state in a proceeding
arising out of an investigation of child abuse or neglect or in a proceeding to
collect child support for a child in the temporary or permanent managing
conservatorship of DFPS;
(10) a
member of the state legislature, to the extent permitted under federal law,
when necessary to carry out that member's official duties;
(11) the person authorized by the court or
designated to give medical consent or make educational decisions on the child's
behalf; and
(12) any other person
or entity responsible for the protection, diagnosis, care, treatment,
supervision or education of a child when, in the discretion of DFPS, such
information is necessary to properly meet that child's needs.
(b) In accordance with §
261.201(g)
of the Family Code, and upon a properly submitted request, DFPS shall provide
access to confidential case records to the parent or other legal guardian of a
child who was the alleged or actual victim of child abuse and neglect, provided
that the records are redacted as described in §
700.204 of this title (relating to
Redaction of Records Prior to Release). For purposes of this subsection, a
parent or other legal guardian means any parent, adoptive parent, possessory
conservator, temporary or permanent managing conservator, legal guardian, or
other legal representative of the child, provided that the requestor's parental
or other legal relationship to the child has not been terminated at the time
the request for information is made. DFPS may release confidential case
records, or information contained therein, to a minor child who is the subject
of those records if DFPS deems the release to be in the best interest of the
minor child.
(c) Upon a properly
submitted request, DFPS shall provide access to confidential investigation
records to an individual who was alleged or designated by DFPS to be a
perpetrator in that investigation, whether or not that individual is a parent
of the alleged victim, provided that the records are redacted as described in
§
700.204 of this title (relating to
Redaction of Records Prior to Release). A release under this subsection is
limited to that portion of DFPS's records which were developed during the
course of an investigation into child abuse or neglect and shall not include
records related to the provision of services to a child or the child's family
as a result of the investigation.
(d) In accordance with §
261.201(d)
of the Family Code, and upon a properly submitted request, DFPS shall provide
access to confidential case records to the adoptive or prospective adoptive
parents of a child who was, or to an adult who was as a child, the subject of
those records, provided that the records are redacted in accordance with §
700.204 of this title and provided
that the identity of the child's biological parents is protected. When
releasing information under this subsection, DFPS need not redact the record to
protect the identity of a biological parent whose identity is already known to
the requestor.
(e) An individual
not otherwise entitled to have access to confidential records under this
section, but who participated in, cooperated with, or otherwise contributed to
an investigation of child abuse or neglect, may have access to only that
portion of the case records obtained directly from or pertaining directly to
that individual.
(f)
Notwithstanding any other provision in this subchapter, DFPS shall not disclose
any record or information which, if released to the requestor, would interfere
with an ongoing criminal investigation or prosecution.
(g) The same restrictions on disclosure of
confidential records released by DFPS apply to re-disclosure by the individual
or entity that obtains the documents from DFPS.
Notes
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