SECTION 810.63. General Assessment Standards for Adult Sex Offenders and Juveniles Who Commit Sexual Offenses

(a) The comprehensive assessment shall focus on the strengths, risks, and needs of the client, and identifying factors from social and sexual history, which may contribute to sexual deviance. Assessments shall provide the basis for the development of comprehensive treatment plans and shall provide recommendations regarding the intensity of intervention, specific treatment protocol needed, amenability to treatment, as well as the identified risk the adult sex offender and/or the juvenile who commit sexual offenses presents to the community.

(b) Licensees shall refrain from assessment protocols outside the scope and recognized boundaries of the licensee's competencies.

(c) Licensees may provide treatment to a client for whom they have conducted an assessment.

(d) In preparing assessments of adult sex offenders and juveniles who commit sexual offenses, licensees shall:

(1) be culturally sensitive, fair and impartial, providing objective and accurate data;

(2) respond only to referral questions that fall within the licensee's expertise and present level of knowledge;

(3) be respectful of the client's right to be informed of the reasons for the assessment, the interpretation of data, the basis for recommendations, and conclusions;

(4) have knowledge of the client's legal status;

(5) understand the limitations of a client's self-report and make all possible efforts to verify the information provided by the client;

(6) use assessment procedures and techniques sufficient to respond to the presenting issues, including risk for future sexual offending, and provide appropriate substantiation for the resulting conclusions and recommendations;

(7) administer, score, interpret and/or utilize assessment techniques, tests or instruments in a manner and for purposes for which there are professional or scientific bases;

(8) administer, score, interpret and/or utilize assessment techniques, tests or instruments in a manner and for purposes for which the assessment technique has been standardized;

(9) acknowledge if an assessment consisted of only a clinical review without client contact and shall clarify the impact that limited information has on the reliability and validity of the resulting report;

(10) provide clients in writing informed consent, statement of disclosures, releases and/or exceptions to confidentiality, and employ verbal explanations for clients who do not meet the reading or comprehension level required;

(11) thoroughly review written documentation and collateral interviews. The information from all available and relevant sources, may include but is not limited to:

(A) criminal investigation records;

(B) child protective services investigations;

(C) previous assessments and treatment progress reports;

(D) mental health records and assessments;

(E) medical records;

(F) Texas Department of Criminal Justice and Texas Juvenile Justice Department records;

(G) probation records;

(H) information regarding details of the offense as obtained by law enforcement; and

(I) the official victim statement(s); and

(12) ensure written assessments document and acknowledge the procedures employed, summaries, conclusions, recommendations, and all collateral reports and interviews.

(e) Licensees shall subscribe and adhere to the following tenets regarding the client assessment.

(1) If a client does not meet the reading or comprehension level required by an assessment instrument, arrangements for using a standardized approved auditory (taped or read) version of the test instrument shall be made to the extent such versions are available.

(2) The clinical interview shall incorporate sufficient discussion necessary to augment, clarify, and explore the information obtained from the review of collateral materials and contacts and other components of the assessment (for example: testing results).

(3) Licensees shall make every effort to obtain the official offense report to compare the degree of similarity or disparity between the client and the victim's statements.

(4) Assessment of treatment needs shall identify strengths and weaknesses in the individual's psycho-sexual functioning for the purpose of directing treatment efforts to the appropriate areas.

(5) Recommendations for treatment should be based on the presence of factors known to be related to sexual offense risk and/or the absence of skills known to impact the reduction and/or management of risk factors related to sexual offense risk.

(6) When formulating recommendations, community safety and the degree to which a client is capable and willing to manage risk shall be considered.

(7) Licensees shall make an effort to recommend the most appropriate treatment program available and objectively state the level of risk management regardless of whether existing limited resources preclude adequate or appropriate services.

Source Note: The provisions of this §810.63 adopted to be effective October 22, 2006, 31 TexReg 8520; amended to be effective April 24, 2011, 36 TexReg 2396; amended to be effective October 1, 2015, 40 TexReg 6748