Policy

The investigator must notify the applicant, permit holder, director, or person in charge at the operation when an investigation is being conducted.

DFPS Rules, 40 TAC §745.8441

Procedure

During the first contact the investigator has with the operation, the investigator must inform the administrator or director:

a.   about the purpose of the investigation and nature of the allegations;

b.   whether a safety plan is needed;

c.   that the operation must not conduct any interview about the alleged incident with staff, children, or witnesses at the operation who may have knowledge of the incident, unless the operation qualifies for an exception.

Exception to Operation Conducting Interviews

State law requires some residential operations to investigate the death of a child and file a report about the death with the attorney general. The operations may conduct interviews about the death of a child in order to file the required report.

These operations may include foster homes, licensed residential facilities that contract with the Texas Youth Commission, and juvenile probation facilities that choose to be licensed.