Reasonable Efforts to Reunify Families Texas

What Are Reasonable Efforts

Statute: Family Code § 262.001

As determined in a service plan

When Reasonable Efforts Are Required

Statute: Family Code §§ 262.001; 262.2015

To prevent or eliminate the need to remove a child from the child's home

To make it possible for the child to return home

To finalize the permanent placement of a child
for whom the court has made a finding that
reasonable efforts to return the child home are
not required

When Reasonable Efforts Are NOT Required

Statute: Family Code § 262.2015

The parent has subjected the child to aggravated circumstances:

The parent abandoned the child without a means of
identifying the child

The child is a victim of serious bodily injury or
sexual abuse inflicted by the parent or another
person with the parent's consent

The parent has committed against the child
murder, manslaughter, indecency with a child,
sexual assault, aggravated assault, injury to a
child, abandoning or endangering a child,
prohibited sexual conduct, sexual performance by
a child, or possession or promotion of child
pornography

The parent voluntarily left the child alone or in
the possession of another person for at least 6
months without expressing the intent to return
and without providing adequate support for the
child

Parental rights to another child have been
terminated involuntarily

The parent has been convicted for the murder or
voluntary manslaughter of another child, or
aiding, abetting, or attempting such crime

The parent has been convicted of a felony assault
that resulted in serious bodily injury of the
child or another child of the parent