Relating to procedures and grounds related to the removal and placement of children, including for terminating the parent-child relationship, for taking possession of a child, and for certain hearings in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed by a governmental entity.
Bill overview
Relating to procedures and grounds related to the removal and placement of children, including for terminating the parent-child relationship, for taking possession of a child, and for certain hearings in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed by a governmental entity.
Reference notes
HB 2216 sources, status methodology and verification
Sources
- HB 2216 official legislative recordPrimary bill-status record.
- Current official bill textOfficial bill text or printing.
Methodology
KeepTXRed treats the official legislative record and latest official action as the factual status layer for HB 2216. Status labels are normalized for browsing, while the legislative timeline and documents preserve official action text and source links. Any KeepTXRed explanation below is editorial context and remains separate from the official record.
Last verified
Legislative record synchronized September 2, 2026 at 2:55 AM UTC; latest recorded official action May 7, 2025.
Bill → law → agency context
This relationship layer distinguishes what the normalized official record can prove from what it cannot. Enactment and effective dates come from the bill record. Agency names below are shown only when an official fiscal document supplies a verified agency reference; being cited in a fiscal note does not by itself prove that the agency administers the resulting law.
Official fiscal-note agency context
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KeepTXRed explanation
This reviewed explanation is separate from the official bill record and is provided for general information, not legal advice.
KeepTXRed summary
HB 2216 was a House-passed child-welfare overhaul that would have raised the evidentiary threshold for many DFPS parental-rights termination findings from clear and convincing evidence to beyond a reasonable doubt and replaced multiple reasonable-efforts requirements with more demanding active-efforts duties. The Senate did not pass it.
What would change
The proposal would have required more intensive reunification assistance, more specific causal findings connecting home conditions to serious harm, stronger kinship and placement preferences, detailed factual pleadings, and a beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard for specified termination findings. It also limited reliance on factors such as poverty, housing conditions or parental age by themselves.
Who may be affected
Children and parents in DFPS cases, relatives and foster caregivers, DFPS caseworkers, family courts, attorneys, child advocates and community service providers.
When it would take effect
HB 2216 did not take effect. It passed the House and was considered by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee but did not receive final Senate passage. The House proposal specified January 1, 2027 as its effective date.
Limits and uncertainty
This was a large and legally consequential proposal, not current law. Individual child-protection and parental-rights cases remain governed by existing Family Code standards and applicable federal law.
Editorial sources and review notes
Official House-engrossed text, detailed committee/Senate analysis and stages reviewed. House passed; Senate did not.
Editorial explanation reviewed 9/6/2026.
Current status
Passed
Left pending in committee
Latest official action
Left pending in committee
May 7, 2025 · house
Who this bill may affect
A verified audience or subject classification has not been attached to this bill yet.
Use the bill overview and official documents to determine whether the proposal may apply to you, your business, or a public agency.
Sponsors
Committee history
- Human Services
Out of committee
- Health & Human Services
In committee
Legislative timeline
Left pending in committee
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Official recordStatement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
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Official recordPassed to engrossment as amended
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Official recordPlaced on General State Calendar
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Official recordReported favorably as substituted
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Official recordScheduled for public hearing on . . .
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Official recordReferred to Human Services
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Official record
Official bill text
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Related articles
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