March 31, 2009

Mr. C. Patrick Phillips

Assistant City Attorney

City of Fort Worth

1000 Throckmorton Street

Fort Worth, Texas 76102

OR2009-04175

Dear Mr. Phillips:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 338444 (PIR# 1426-09).

The City of Fort Worth (the "city") received a request for a specified incident report. You state that you have redacted Texas-issued motor vehicle record information pursuant to the previous determinations issued by this office in Open Records Letter Nos. 2006-14726 (2006) and 2007-00198 (2007). See Gov't Code § 552.301(a); Open Records Decision No. 673 at 7-8 (2001). You also state you have redacted social security numbers pursuant to section 552.147 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ You claim that the requested report is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.108 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses section 261.201(a) of the Family Code. Section 261.201(a) provides as follows:

(a) The following information is confidential, is not subject to public release under Chapter 552, Government Code, and may be disclosed only for purposes consistent with this code and applicable federal or state law or under rules adopted by an investigating agency:

(1) a report of alleged or suspected abuse or neglect made under this chapter and the identity of the person making the report; and

(2) except as otherwise provided in this section, the files, reports, records, communications, audiotapes, videotapes, and working papers used or developed in an investigation under this chapter or in providing services as a result of an investigation.

Fam. Code § 261.201(a). Upon review of your arguments and the submitted information, we find that the submitted information was used or developed in an investigation of child abuse or neglect under chapter 261 of the Family Code. See id. § 261.001(1), (4) (defining "abuse" and "neglect" for purposes of chapter 261 of the Family Code); id. § 101.003(a) (defining "child" as a person under 18 years of age). Therefore, this report falls within the scope of section 261.201. You have not indicated that the city has adopted a rule governing the release of this type of information; therefore, we assume no such rule exists. Therefore, we conclude that the submitted information is generally confidential under section 261.201 of the Family Code.

We note that section 261.201 provides that information encompassed by subsection (a) may be released to certain persons and entities under limited circumstances. See id. § 261.201. The city received the present request for information from a Court Appointed Special Advocate for the minor children involved in the requested information. However, the requestor does not fall within any category of persons or entities authorized by section 261.201 to receive this ordinarily confidential information. See id. § 261.201(b)-(g) (listing entities that are authorized to receive 261.201 information). Accordingly, the submitted information is confidential under section 261.201 of the Family Code and the city therefore must withhold this information under section 552.101 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾ As our ruling is dispositive, we need not address your remaining argument.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General at (512) 475-2497.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Miles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JM/cc

Ref: ID# 338444

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 552.147(b) of the Government Code authorizes a governmental body to redact a living person's social security number from public release without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office under the Act.

2. We note that if the investigation underlying the submitted information has been referred to the Department of Family and Protective Services ("DFPS"), a parent or other legal representative of a child who is a requestor may be entitled to access to DFPS's records. See Fam. Code § 261.201(g).

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