This section requires juvenile probation departments to use and report on specified screening and risk-assessment tools, and it limits use of a child’s statements and mental health data against the child at adjudication.
Sec. 221.003. RULES CONCERNING MENTAL HEALTH SCREENING INSTRUMENT AND RISK AND NEEDS ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT; ADMISSIBILITY OF STATEMENTS. (a) The board by rule shall require juvenile probation departments to use the mental health screening instrument selected by the department for the initial screening of children under the jurisdiction of probation departments who have been formally referred to a juvenile probation department. The department shall give priority to training in the use of this instrument in any preservice or in-service training that the department provides for probation officers. The rules adopted by the board under this section must allow a clinical assessment by a licensed mental health professional to be substituted for the mental health screening instrument selected by the department if the clinical assessment is performed in the time prescribed by the department. (b) A juvenile probation department must, before the disposition of a child's case and using a validated risk and needs assessment instrument or process provided or approved by the department, complete a risk and needs assessment for each child under the jurisdiction of the juvenile probation department. The risk and needs assessment must include a screening for risk of commercial sexual exploitation using a validated, evidence-informed tool selected by the Child Sex Trafficking Prevention Unit established under Section 772.0062, Government Code. (b-1) Any risk and needs assessment instrument or process that is provided or approved by the department for a juvenile probation department to use under Subsection (b) must be a validated instrument or process. (c) Any statement made by a child and any mental health data obtained from the child during the administration of the mental health screening instrument or the initial risk and needs assessment instruments under this section is not admissible against the child at any adjudication hearing. The person administering the mental health screening instrument or initial risk and needs assessment instruments shall inform the child that any statement made by the child and any mental health data obtained from the child during the administration of the instrument is not admissible against the child at any adjudication hearing. (d) A juvenile probation department shall report data from the use of the screening instrument or clinical assessment under Subsection (a) and the risk and needs assessment under Subsection (b) to the department in the format and at the time prescribed by the department. (e) The board shall adopt rules to ensure that youth in the juvenile justice system are assessed using the screening instrument or clinical assessment under Subsection (a) and the risk and needs assessment under Subsection (b). Redesignated and amended from Human Resources Code, Subchapter C, Chapter 141 by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 85 (S.B. 653), Sec. 1.004, eff. September 1, 2011. Amended by: Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1299 (H.B. 2862), Sec. 36, eff. September 1, 2013. Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 962 (S.B. 1630), Sec. 5, eff. September 1, 2015. Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 262 (H.B. 451), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2025.