The executive commissioner and the department must create and run a statewide complaint process, record and report complaints, and give complainants status updates and appeal options.
Sec. 40.0041. COMPLAINT PROCESS. (a) The executive commissioner by rule shall develop and implement a uniform process for receiving and resolving complaints against the department throughout the state. The process shall include: (1) statewide procedures through which the public, consumers, and service recipients are informed: (A) of the right to make a complaint against the department, including the mailing addresses and telephone numbers of appropriate department personnel responsible for receiving complaints and providing related assistance; and (B) of the department's procedures for resolving a complaint, including the right to appeal a decision made at the local level; (2) development and statewide distribution of a form or telephone system that may be used to make a complaint; (3) a requirement that the department provide information by mail or telephone regarding the department's procedures for investigating and resolving a complaint to each person who makes a complaint; and (4) a requirement that the department provide status information at least quarterly to a person with a pending complaint against the department, unless the information would jeopardize an undercover investigation. (b) In addition to other appropriate methods, the department may provide the information specified by Subsection (a)(1): (1) on each registration form, application, or written contract for services of a person regulated by the department; (2) on a sign prominently displayed in the place of business of each person regulated by the department; or (3) in a bill for service provided by a person regulated by the department. (c) The department shall keep an information file about each complaint made against the department that the department has authority to resolve. (d) The executive commissioner shall develop a consistent, statewide process for addressing an appeal by a person dissatisfied with the resolution of a complaint at the regional level. The process shall include an opportunity for appeal of a complaint without the participation of the department's ombudsman office. (e) The department shall develop and maintain a centralized tracking system to gather information concerning all complaints made against the department throughout the state. The department shall require its personnel to provide information regarding each complaint for inclusion in records maintained under the tracking system at the department's state headquarters, regardless of the location or level at which the complaint is initiated or resolved. The department shall require at least the following information to be maintained for each complaint: (1) the date the complaint is received; (2) the name of the person making the complaint; (3) the subject matter of the complaint; (4) a record of all persons contacted by the department in relation to the complaint; (5) a summary of the results of the review or investigation of the complaint; and (6) for each complaint determined by the department to require no corrective action, an explanation of the reason that the complaint was closed without action. (f) The department shall periodically prepare and deliver reports to the executive commissioner and the commissioner regarding the number, type, and resolution of complaints made in the state against the department. (g) The department shall cooperate with the ombudsman for children and youth in foster care to create consequences, based on the circumstances of the complaint and the severity of the retaliation, for any person who is found to have retaliated against a child or youth in the conservatorship of the department because of a complaint made to the ombudsman. (h) The executive commissioner shall adopt rules requiring all residential child-care facilities in which children and youth in the conservatorship of the department are placed to display information about the ombudsman for children and youth in foster care and the process for filing a complaint with the ombudsman in a location that is easily accessible and offers maximum privacy to the children and youth residing at the facility. Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1022, Sec. 4, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended by: Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1 (S.B. 219), Sec. 4.186, eff. April 2, 2015. Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1168 (S.B. 830), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2015.