AGE-APPROPRIATE NORMALCY ACTIVITIES; STANDARD OF CARE

(a) The department shall use its best efforts to normalize the lives of children in the managing conservatorship of the department by allowing substitute caregivers, without the department's prior approval, to make decisions similar to those a parent would be entitled to make regarding a child's participation in age-appropriate normalcy activities. (b) In determining whether to allow a child in the managing conservatorship of the department to participate in an activity, a substitute caregiver must exercise the standard of care of a reasonable and prudent parent. (c) The department shall adopt and implement policies consistent with this section promoting a substitute caregiver's ability to make decisions described by Subsection (a). The department shall identify and review any departmental policy or procedure that may impede a substitute caregiver's ability to make such decisions. (d) The department shall require licensed child placing agency personnel, residential child care licensing staff, conservatorship caseworkers, and other persons as may be determined by the department to complete a course of training regarding: (1) the importance of a child's participation in age-appropriate normalcy activities and the benefits of such activities to a child's well-being, mental health, and social, emotional, and developmental growth; and (2) substitute caregiver decision-making under the standard of care of a reasonable and prudent parent.