| (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.
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