Bill Text: FL S0900 | 2021 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Child Welfare
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2021-04-30 - Died in Messages; companion bill(s) passed, see CS/CS/SB 96 (Ch. 2021-170) [S0900 Detail]
Download: Florida-2021-S0900-Engrossed.html
SB 900 First Engrossed
2021900e1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to child welfare; amending s. 39.01,
3 F.S.; defining the term “voluntary services”; amending
4 s. 39.202, F.S.; expanding the list of entities that
5 have access to child abuse records; amending s.
6 39.302, F.S.; revising the authority of the Department
7 of Children and Families to review reports for the
8 purpose of employment screening; amending s. 409.1415,
9 F.S.; revising requirements for certain employees of
10 residential group homes; amending s. 409.1678, F.S.;
11 revising certification requirements for safe foster
12 homes; amending s. 409.175, F.S.; requiring
13 assessments to be completed if the total number of
14 children in a family foster home will exceed six,
15 excluding the family’s own children, before placement
16 of a child in a family foster home; requiring the
17 department to adopt rules to establish eligibility
18 criteria for requesting a waiver for such assessments
19 and criteria to approve such waivers; providing an
20 effective date.
21
22 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
23
24 Section 1. Subsection (88) is added to section 39.01,
25 Florida Statutes, to read:
26 39.01 Definitions.—When used in this chapter, unless the
27 context otherwise requires:
28 (88) “Voluntary services” means social services and other
29 preventive and rehabilitative services provided to the parent or
30 legal custodian of the child or directly to the child, or
31 services provided on behalf of the child, when a parent or legal
32 custodian requests or voluntarily agrees to assistance.
33 Section 2. Paragraphs (a) and (h) of subsection (2) of
34 section 39.202, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
35 39.202 Confidentiality of reports and records in cases of
36 child abuse or neglect.—
37 (2) Except as provided in subsection (4), access to such
38 records, excluding the name of, or other identifying information
39 with respect to, the reporter which shall be released only as
40 provided in subsection (5), shall be granted only to the
41 following persons, officials, and agencies:
42 (a) Employees, authorized agents, or contract providers of
43 the department, the Department of Health, the Agency for Persons
44 with Disabilities, the Agency for Health Care Administration,
45 the office of Early Learning, or county agencies responsible for
46 carrying out:
47 1. Child or adult protective investigations;
48 2. Ongoing child or adult protective services;
49 3. Early intervention and prevention services;
50 4. Healthy Start services;
51 5. Licensure or approval of adoptive homes, foster homes,
52 child care facilities, facilities licensed under chapters 393
53 and 394 chapter 393, family day care homes, providers who
54 receive school readiness funding under part VI of chapter 1002,
55 or other homes used to provide for the care and welfare of
56 children;
57 6. Employment screening for caregivers in residential group
58 homes and facilities licensed under chapters 393, 394, and 409;
59 or
60 7. Services for victims of domestic violence when provided
61 by certified domestic violence centers working at the
62 department’s request as case consultants or with shared clients.
63
64 Also, employees or agents of the Department of Juvenile Justice
65 responsible for the provision of services to children, pursuant
66 to chapters 984 and 985.
67 (h) Any appropriate official of the department, the Agency
68 for Health Care Administration, or the Agency for Persons with
69 Disabilities who is responsible for:
70 1. Administration or supervision of the department’s
71 program for the prevention, investigation, or treatment of child
72 abuse, abandonment, or neglect, or abuse, neglect, or
73 exploitation of a vulnerable adult, when carrying out his or her
74 official function;
75 2. Taking appropriate administrative action concerning an
76 employee of the department or the agency who is alleged to have
77 perpetrated child abuse, abandonment, or neglect, or abuse,
78 neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult; or
79 3. Employing and continuing employment of personnel of the
80 department or the agency.
81 Section 3. Paragraph (b) of subsection (7) of section
82 39.302, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
83 39.302 Protective investigations of institutional child
84 abuse, abandonment, or neglect.—
85 (7) When an investigation of institutional abuse, neglect,
86 or abandonment is closed and a person is not identified as a
87 caregiver responsible for the abuse, neglect, or abandonment
88 alleged in the report, the fact that the person is named in some
89 capacity in the report may not be used in any way to adversely
90 affect the interests of that person. This prohibition applies to
91 any use of the information in employment screening, licensing,
92 child placement, adoption, or any other decisions by a private
93 adoption agency or a state agency or its contracted providers.
94 (b) Likewise, if a person is employed as a caregiver in a
95 residential group home licensed under s. 409.175 and is named in
96 any capacity in three or more reports within a 5-year period,
97 the department may review all reports for the purposes of the
98 employment screening required under s. 409.175(2)(m) s.
99 409.1415(2)(c).
100 Section 4. Paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section
101 409.1415, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
102 409.1415 Parenting partnerships for children in out-of-home
103 care.—
104 (2) PARENTING PARTNERSHIPS.—
105 (c) An employee of a residential group home must meet the
106 background screening requirements under s. 39.0138 and the level
107 2 screening standards for screening under chapter 435. An
108 employee of a residential group home who works directly with a
109 child as a caregiver must meet, at a minimum, the same
110 education, and training, background, and other screening
111 requirements as caregivers in family foster homes licensed as
112 level II under s. 409.175(5).
113 Section 5. Paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section
114 409.1678, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
115 409.1678 Specialized residential options for children who
116 are victims of commercial sexual exploitation.—
117 (2) CERTIFICATION OF SAFE HOUSES AND SAFE FOSTER HOMES.—
118 (c) To be certified, a safe house must hold a license as a
119 residential child-caring agency, as defined in s. 409.175, and a
120 safe foster home must hold a license as a family foster home, as
121 defined in s. 409.175. A safe house or safe foster home must
122 also:
123 1. Use strength-based and trauma-informed approaches to
124 care, to the extent possible and appropriate.
125 2. Serve exclusively one sex.
126 3. Group child victims of commercial sexual exploitation by
127 age or maturity level.
128 4. Care for child victims of commercial sexual exploitation
129 in a manner that separates those children from children with
130 other needs; however, this subparagraph does not apply to safe
131 foster homes. Safe houses and safe foster homes may care for
132 other populations if the children who have not experienced
133 commercial sexual exploitation do not interact with children who
134 have experienced commercial sexual exploitation.
135 5. Have awake staff members on duty 24 hours a day, if a
136 safe house.
137 6. Provide appropriate security through facility design,
138 hardware, technology, staffing, and siting, including, but not
139 limited to, external video monitoring or door exit alarms, a
140 high staff-to-client ratio, or being situated in a remote
141 location that is isolated from major transportation centers and
142 common trafficking areas.
143 7. Meet other criteria established by department rule,
144 which may include, but are not limited to, personnel
145 qualifications, staffing ratios, and types of services offered.
146 Section 6. Subsection (3) of section 409.175, Florida
147 Statutes, is amended to read:
148 409.175 Licensure of family foster homes, residential
149 child-caring agencies, and child-placing agencies; public
150 records exemption.—
151 (3)(a) The total number of children placed in each family
152 foster home shall be based on the recommendation of the
153 department, or the community-based care lead agency where one is
154 providing foster care and related services, based on the needs
155 of each child in care, the ability of the foster family to meet
156 the individual needs of each child, including any adoptive or
157 biological children or young adults remaining in foster care
158 living in the home, the amount of safe physical plant space, the
159 ratio of active and appropriate adult supervision, and the
160 background, experience, and skill of the family foster parents.
161 (b) If the total number of children in a family foster home
162 will exceed six, excluding five, including the family’s own
163 children, an assessment of each child to be placed in the home
164 must be completed by a family services counselor and approved in
165 writing by the counselor’s supervisor prior to placement of any
166 additional children in the home, except that, if the placement
167 involves a child whose sibling is already in the home or a child
168 who has been in placement in the home previously, the assessment
169 must be completed within 72 hours after placement. The
170 assessment must assess and document the mental, physical, and
171 psychosocial needs of the child and recommend the maximum number
172 of children in a family foster home that will allow the child’s
173 needs to be met.
174 (c) For any licensed family foster home, the
175 appropriateness of the number of children in the home must be
176 reassessed annually as part of the relicensure process. For a
177 home with more than six five children, if it is determined by
178 the licensure study at the time of relicensure that the total
179 number of children in the home is appropriate and that there
180 have been no substantive licensure violations and no indications
181 of child maltreatment or child-on-child sexual abuse within the
182 past 12 months, the relicensure of the home may shall not be
183 denied based on the total number of children in the home.
184 (d) The department shall adopt rules to establish
185 eligibility criteria for requesting a waiver for assessments
186 required under this subsection and criteria to approve such
187 waivers.
188 Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.
