House Human Services Panel to Track New Psychiatric Beds, Rural Foster Pilot and CPS Due Process

The Texas House Committee on Human Services will gavel in at 10 a.m. Sept. 9 in Capitol Extension room E2.012 to take invited testimony on six interim charges spanning the state’s foster care system: how three 2025 laws are being carried out, whether families under investigation by child welfare authorities are getting the services and the due process they are owed, and what happens to children after a private adoption closes. Texas residents who do not testify may file written comments through the committee’s online portal until the hearing is adjourned, according to the hearing notice.

Rep. Lacey Hull, R–Houston, chairs the 11-member panel — seven Republicans and four Democrats — with Rep. Christian Manuel, D–Port Arthur, as vice chair, according to the committee’s page. Human Services holds jurisdiction over the Department of Family and Protective Services and much of the Health and Human Services Commission, and it is the committee that moved all three of the monitoring bills on this agenda through the House in 2025. It last met May 5.

The monitoring charge starts with House Bill 109 by Rep. Toni Rose, D–Dallas, which lets the Department of State Health Services designate state facilities beyond the Waco Center for Youth as residential treatment sites for juveniles in state care. The bill cleared the committee 11-0 and took effect Sept. 1, 2025. Its most visible product opened last month: the 30-bed Terrell Center for Youth, a $35 million renovation on the Terrell State Hospital campus serving foster teens ages 13 to 17, which the Dispatch reported on when HHSC and DFPS marked the opening Aug. 20. The Legislative Budget Board found no significant fiscal implication to the state from the designation authority itself; the construction money came separately through the appropriations act.

Members will also review Senate Bill 513 by Sen. Kevin Sparks, R–Midland, which directs DFPS to stand up a rural community-based care pilot in a region where the agency sought but never received bids to take over foster care services. The law limits lead entities to locally governed nonprofits or local governments, conditions the pilot on sufficient funding, and requires a program development report to the Legislature by Jan. 1, 2027 — a deadline that lands weeks before the 90th Legislature convenes. DFPS says community-based care is still expanding elsewhere, with Bexar County, El Paso, Harris County and the Bay Area/Montgomery region next in line to transition. The third monitoring item, House Bill 1403 bars the state and child-placing agencies from requiring foster homes to disclose what types of firearms they own, caps use of any such information at confirming that firearms are present, and exposes a violating agency to a civil penalty of up to $5,000. It passed the committee 8-3.

Two charges look at services rather than statutes. Targeted and Meaningful Child Welfare Services for Families asks members to map where family stabilization and reunification services exist across the state and to recommend fixes, with particular attention to keeping kinship placements intact. Ensuring Transparency in the Adoption Process and Providing Post-Adoptive Supports for Former Foster Youth turns to private adoptions, the rights of adoptive and biological parents, and whether adoptive families are getting help after placement.

The last charge, Protecting Due Process and Civil Rights in Child Protective Services Investigations, is the one with the sharpest edge. It directs the committee to examine consistency in abuse and neglect determinations, notification of rights and access to case records, and to develop proposals to improve due process review of the Central Abuse Registry — the DFPS database that logs names tied to a “reason to believe” finding and bars a listed person from clearing a background check.

Because this is an interim hearing, the committee will take no votes and no legislation is before it. What members hear will shape the panel’s interim report and the child welfare bills filed for the 90th Legislature, which convenes in January 2027.

Meeting at a glance

Committee members

• Rep. Lacey Hull, R–Houston (HD-138) — Chair
• Rep. Christian Manuel, D–Port Arthur (HD-22) — Vice Chair
• Rep. Aicha M. Davis, D–Dallas (HD-109)
• Rep. Mark Dorazio, R–San Antonio (HD-122)
• Rep. Christina Morales, D–Houston (HD-145)
• Rep. Candy Noble, R–Lucas (HD-89)
• Rep. Keresa Richardson, R–McKinney (HD-61)
• Rep. Toni Rose, D–Dallas (HD-110)
• Rep. Nate Schatzline, R–Fort Worth (HD-93)
• Rep. Shelby Slawson, R–Stephenville (HD-59)
• Rep. Valoree Swanson, R–Spring (HD-150)