Bill Text: FL S1298 | 2010 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Supervised Visitation & Exchange Monitoring Prog. [SPSC]
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Failed) 2010-04-30 - Died in Messages [S1298 Detail]
Download: Florida-2010-S1298-Comm_Sub.html
Florida Senate - 2010 CS for CS for CS for SB 1298 By the Committees on Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations; Judiciary; and Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and Senators Wise and Gaetz 604-04844-10 20101298c3 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to supervised visitation and exchange 3 monitoring programs; creating s. 753.06, F.S.; 4 adopting state standards for supervised visitation and 5 exchange monitoring programs; providing for 6 modification; requiring the standards to be published 7 on the website of the Clearinghouse on Supervised 8 Visitation; requiring each program to annually affirm 9 compliance with the standards to the court; creating 10 s. 753.07, F.S.; providing factors for the court or 11 child-placing agency to consider when referring cases 12 for supervised visitation or exchange monitoring; 13 specifying training requirements for persons referring 14 to or providing such services; authorizing supervised 15 visitation programs to alert the court to problems 16 with referred cases; creating s. 753.08, F.S.; 17 authorizing supervised visitation or monitored 18 exchange programs to conduct security background 19 checks of employees and volunteers and criminal 20 records checks through the Department of Law 21 Enforcement; providing standards for such background 22 checks; requiring that an employer furnish a copy of 23 the personnel record for the employee or former 24 employee upon request; requiring that such personnel 25 record contain certain information; requiring that all 26 applicants hired or certified by a program after a 27 specified date undergo a level 2 background screening 28 before being hired or certified; delegating 29 responsibility for certain costs and screening 30 criminal history information; authorizing a supervised 31 visitation program to participate in the Volunteer and 32 Employee Criminal History System in order to obtain 33 criminal history information; providing immunity to 34 employers who provide information for purposes of a 35 background check; providing that certain persons 36 providing services at a supervised visitation or 37 monitored exchange program are presumed to act in good 38 faith and are immune from civil or criminal liability; 39 providing exceptions; creating s. 753.09, F.S.; 40 providing that after a specified date only those 41 supervised visitation programs that adhere to the 42 state standards may receive state funding; providing 43 an effective date. 44 45 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 46 47 Section 1. Section 753.06, Florida Statutes, is created to 48 read: 49 753.06 Standards.— 50 (1) The standards announced in the final report submitted 51 to the Legislature pursuant to s. 753.03(4) shall be the basis 52 for the state’s standards for supervised visitation and exchange 53 monitoring programs, and may be modified only by the advisory 54 board created under s. 753.03(2) after reasonable notice to the 55 programs, but not more often than annually. The clearinghouse 56 shall publish the standards, as modified, on its website. The 57 published standards shall be regarded as the state standards for 58 supervised visitation and exchange monitoring programs. 59 (2) Each supervised visitation and exchange monitoring 60 program must affirm annually in a written agreement with the 61 court that they abide by the standards. If the program has a 62 contract with a child-placing agency, that contract must include 63 an affirmation that the program complies with the standards. A 64 copy of the agreement or contract must be made available to any 65 party upon request. 66 Section 2. Section 753.07, Florida Statutes, is created to 67 read: 68 753.07 Referrals.— 69 (1) Courts and referring child-placing agencies must adhere 70 to the following priorities when determining where to refer 71 cases for supervised visitation or exchange monitoring: 72 (a) For cases that are filed under chapter 61 or chapter 73 741 where the courts are the primary source of referrals, the 74 court shall direct referrals for supervised visitation or 75 exchange monitoring as follows: 76 1. The order shall refer the parties to a supervised 77 visitation or exchange monitoring program that has a written 78 agreement with the court as provided in s. 753.06(2) if such a 79 program exists in the community. 80 2. If a program does not exist, or if the existing program 81 is not able to accept the referral for any reason, the court may 82 refer the case to a local mental health professional. Such 83 professionals are not required to abide by the state standards 84 established in s. 753.06(1); however, such professionals must 85 affirm to the court in writing that they have completed the 86 clearinghouse’s free, online supervised visitation training 87 program and have read and understood the state standards. 88 (b) In cases governed by chapter 39, the referring child 89 placing agency must adhere to the following: 90 1. The agency having primary responsibility for the case 91 must ensure that each family is assessed for problems that could 92 present safety risks during parent-child contact. If risks are 93 present, agency staff shall consider referring the parties to a 94 local supervised visitation program that has affirmed in writing 95 that it adheres to the state standards if such a program exists 96 in the community. 97 2. If agency staff determine that there is no need for a 98 supervised visitation program, no such program exists, or the 99 existing program is unable to accept the referral for any 100 reason, the child protective investigator or case manager having 101 primary responsibility for the case may: 102 a. Supervise the parent-child contact him or herself. 103 However, before a child protective investigator or case manager 104 may supervise visits, he or she must review or receive training 105 on the online training manual for the state’s supervised 106 visitation programs and affirm in writing to his or her own 107 agency that he or she has received training on, or read and 108 understands, the state standards. 109 b. Designate a foster parent or relative to supervise the 110 parent-child visits in those cases that do not warrant the 111 supervision of the child protective investigator or case 112 manager. However, the designated foster parent or relative must 113 first be apprised that the case manager conducted a safety 114 assessment described in subparagraph 1., and must be provided 115 access to free training material on the foster parent’s or 116 relative’s role in supervised visitation. Such materials may be 117 created by the clearinghouse using existing or new material, and 118 must be approved by the department. Such training may be 119 included in any preservice foster parent training done by the 120 agency. 121 3. If a program does not exist, or if the existing program 122 is unable to accept the referral and the child protective 123 investigator or case manager is unable to supervise the parent 124 child contact or designate a foster parent or relative to 125 supervise the visits as described in subparagraph 2., the agency 126 having primary responsibility for the case may refer the case to 127 other qualified staff within that agency to supervise the 128 contact. However, before such staff may supervise any visits, he 129 or she must review or receive training on the online training 130 manual for supervised visitation programs and affirm in writing 131 to his or her own agency that he or she has received training 132 on, or has read and understands, the training manual and the 133 state standards. 134 4. The agency that has primary responsibility for the case 135 may not refer the case to a subcontractor or other agency to 136 perform the supervised visitation unless that subcontractor’s or 137 other agency’s child protective investigators or case managers 138 who supervise onsite or offsite visits have reviewed or received 139 training on the clearinghouse’s online training manual for 140 supervised visitation programs and affirm to their own agency 141 that they have received training on, or have read and 142 understand, the training manual and the state standards. 143 (2) This section does not prohibit the court from allowing 144 a litigant’s relatives or friends to supervise visits if the 145 court determines that such supervision is safe. However, such 146 informal supervisors must be made aware of the free online 147 clearinghouse materials that they may voluntarily choose to 148 review. These materials must provide information that helps 149 educate the informal supervisors about the inherent risks and 150 complicated dynamics of supervised visitation. 151 (3) Supervised visitation and exchange monitoring programs 152 may alert the court in writing if there are problems with cases 153 referred and the court may set a hearing to address these 154 problems. 155 Section 3. Section 753.08, Florida Statutes, is created to 156 read: 157 753.08 Service providers; background checks; immunity.— 158 (1) Because of the special trust or responsibility placed 159 in volunteers and employees of supervised visitation and 160 supervised exchange monitoring programs, such program must 161 conduct a security background investigation before hiring an 162 employee or certifying a volunteer to serve. A security 163 background investigation shall include, but need not be limited 164 to, employment history checks, checks of references, local 165 criminal history records checks through local law enforcement 166 agencies, and statewide criminal history records checks through 167 the Department of Law Enforcement. Upon request, an employer 168 shall furnish a copy of the personnel record for the employee or 169 former employee who is the subject of a security background 170 investigation conducted pursuant to this section. The 171 information contained in the personnel record may include, but 172 need not be limited to, disciplinary matters and the reason why 173 the employee was terminated from employment. An employer who 174 releases a personnel record for purposes of a security 175 background investigation is presumed to have acted in good faith 176 and is not liable for information contained in the record 177 without a showing that the employer maliciously falsified the 178 record. A security background investigation conducted pursuant 179 to this section shall ensure that a person is not hired as an 180 employee or certified as a volunteer if the person has an arrest 181 awaiting final disposition for, has been convicted of, 182 regardless of adjudication, has entered a plea of nolo 183 contendere or guilty to, or has been adjudicated delinquent and 184 the record has not been sealed or expunged for, any offense 185 prohibited under the provisions listed in s.435.04. All 186 employees hired or volunteers certified on or after July 1, 187 2010, must undergo a state and national criminal history record 188 check. The supervised visitation programs shall contract with 189 the Department of Children and Family Services, the court 190 administrator, or the clerk of court to conduct level 2 191 background checks pursuant to chapter 435. The cost for the 192 fingerprint processing may be borne by the supervised visitation 193 program or the person subject to the background check. The 194 department, court administrator, or clerk of court shall screen 195 the criminal history results to determine if an applicant meets 196 employment requirements, and is responsible for payment to the 197 Department of Law Enforcement by invoice to the Department of 198 Children and Family Services, the court administrator, or the 199 clerk of court or via payment from a credit card by the 200 applicant or a vendor on behalf of the applicant. If the 201 Department of Children and Family Services, court administrator, 202 or clerk of court is unable to conduct the background check, the 203 supervised visitation program may participate in the Volunteer 204 and Employee Criminal History System, as authorized by the 205 National Child Protection Act of 1993 and s. 943.0542 to obtain 206 criminal history information. In analyzing and evaluating the 207 information obtained in the security background investigation, 208 the program must give particular emphasis to past activities 209 involving children, including, but not limited to, child-related 210 criminal offenses or child abuse. The program has sole 211 discretion in determining whether to hire or certify a person 212 based on his or her security background investigation. 213 (2) Any person who is providing services at a supervised 214 visitation or supervised exchange monitoring program who has 215 affirmed to the court in writing that he or she abides by the 216 state standards described in s. 753.06 is presumed, prima facie, 217 to be acting in good faith and is immune from any liability, 218 civil or criminal, which otherwise might be incurred or imposed 219 with regard to the provision of such services. 220 Section 4. Section 753.09, Florida Statutes, is created to 221 read: 222 753.09 Funding.—On or after January 1, 2011, only a 223 supervised visitation program that has affirmed in a written 224 agreement with the court that it abides by and is in compliance 225 with the state standards provided under s. 753.06(1) may receive 226 state funding for visitation or exchange monitoring services. 227 Section 5. This act shall take effect October 1, 2010.
