Appendix E: Definitions of Child Abuse in Texas Law

The principal governing legislation for Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) intake and investigation is Chapter 261 of the Texas Family Code (TFC). Chapter 261's definitions of abuse, of neglect, and of person responsible for a child's care, custody, or welfare describe the areas of primary concern in CPS investigations. The definitions follow below. (Source: www.tdprs.state.tx.us/Child_Protection/About_Child_Abuse/legaldefinitions.asp)

Abuse includes the following acts or omissions by any person:

• mental or emotional injury to a child that results in an observable and material impairment in the child's growth, development, or psychological functioning;
• causing or permitting the child to be in a situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury that results in an observable and material impairment in the child's growth, development, or psychological functioning;
• physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or managing or possessing conservator that does not expose the child to a substantial risk of harm;
• failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child;
• sexual conduct harmful to a child's mental, emotional, or physical welfare, including conduct that constitutes the offense of indecency with a child under Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual assault under Section 22.011, Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section 22.021, Penal Code;
• failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child;
• compelling or encouraging a child to engage in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal Code;
• causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting photograph, film, or depiction of the child is obscene (as defined by the Penal Code) or pornographic;
• the current use by a person of a controlled substance as defined by chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, in a manner to the extent that the use results in physical, mental, or emotional injury to a child;
• causing, expressly permitting, or encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code; or
• causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a sexual performance by a child as defined by Section 43.25, Penal Code.

Neglect includes the following acts or omissions:

• the leaving of a child in a situation where the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of physical or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for the child, and a demonstration of an intent not to return by a parent, guardian, or managing or possessory conservator of the child;
• placing the child in or failing to remove the child from a situation that a reasonable person would realize requires judgment or actions beyond the child’s level of maturity, physical condition, or mental abilities and that results in bodily injury or a substantial risk of immediate harm to the child;
• the failure to seek, obtain, or follow through with medical care for the child, with the failure resulting in or presenting a substantial risk of death, disfigurement, or bodily injury or with the failure resulting in an observable and material impairment to the growth, development, or functioning of the child;
• the failure to provide the child with food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life or health of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by financial inability unless relief services had been offered and refused;
• placing the child in or failing to remove the child from a situation in which the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of sexual conduct harmful to the child; or
• the failure by the person responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to return to the child’s home without arranging for the necessary care for the child after the child has been absent from the home for any reason, including having been in residential care or having run away.