TX SB620

Replaces the "reasonable efforts" standard with a stricter "active efforts" standard that the Department of Family and Protective Services must meet before removing children or terminating parental rights, requiring affirmative, thorough, and timely efforts to maintain or reunite families

Defines "active efforts" to include comprehensive family assessments, identifying and helping parents access appropriate services, searching for extended family members, keeping siblings together, supporting regular parental visits, and providing post-reunification monitoring

Requires DFPS to tailor active efforts to each case's specific circumstances, including identifying community resources for housing, transportation, mental health, substance abuse treatment, and peer support services while actively assisting parents in accessing them

Amends multiple Family Code sections governing emergency child removals, adversary hearings, permanency hearings, and termination proceedings to require courts to find that "active efforts" rather than "reasonable efforts" were made before authorizing continued removal or termination

Takes effect September 1, 2025