Florida Senate - 2009 CS for CS for SB 126
By the Committees on Judiciary; and Children, Families, and
Elder Affairs; and Senators Dockery, Bennett, Lynn, and Bullard
590-04431-09 2009126c2
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the confidential records of
3 children; creating s. 39.00145, F.S.; requiring that
4 the case record of a child under the supervision or in
5 the custody of the Department of Children and Family
6 Services be maintained in a complete and accurate
7 manner; specifying who has access to the case record;
8 authorizing the court to directly release the child’s
9 records to certain entities; providing that entities
10 that have access to confidential information
11 concerning a child may share it with other entities
12 that provide services benefiting children; providing
13 for exceptions for the sharing of confidential
14 information under certain circumstances; amending s.
15 39.202, F.S.; expanding the list of persons or
16 entities that have access to child abuse records;
17 revising how long the department must keep such
18 records; requiring the department to provide notice of
19 how the child’s records may be obtained after the
20 child leaves the department’s custody; authorizing the
21 department to adopt rules; providing an effective
22 date.
23
24 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
25
26 Section 1. Section 39.00145, Florida Statutes, is created
27 to read:
28 39.00145 Records concerning children.—
29 (1) The case record of every child under the supervision of
30 or in the custody of the department, the department’s authorized
31 agents, or providers contracting with the department, including
32 community-based care lead agencies and their subcontracted
33 providers, must be maintained in a complete and accurate manner.
34 The case record must contain, at a minimum, the child’s case
35 plan required under part VIII of this chapter and the full name
36 and street address of all shelters, foster parents, group homes,
37 treatment facilities, or locations where the child has been
38 placed.
39 (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter,
40 all records in a child’s case record must be made available for
41 inspection, upon request, to the child who is the subject of the
42 case record and to the child’s caregiver, guardian ad litem, or
43 attorney.
44 (a) A complete and accurate copy of any record in a child’s
45 case record must be provided, upon request and at no cost, to
46 the child who is the subject of the case record and to the
47 child’s caregiver, guardian ad litem, or attorney.
48 (b) The department shall release the information in a
49 manner and setting that are appropriate to the age and maturity
50 of the child and the nature of the information being released,
51 which may include the release of information in a therapeutic
52 setting, if appropriate. This paragraph does not deny the child
53 access to his or her records.
54 (c) If a child or the child’s caregiver, guardian ad litem,
55 or attorney requests access to the child’s case record, any
56 person or entity that fails to provide any record in the case
57 record under assertion of a claim of exemption from the public
58 records requirements of chapter 119, or fails to provide access
59 within a reasonable time, is subject to sanctions and penalties
60 under s. 119.10.
61 (3) If a court determines that sharing information in the
62 child’s case record is necessary to ensure access to appropriate
63 services for the child or for the safety of the child, the court
64 may approve the release of confidential records or information
65 contained in them.
66 (4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all state
67 and local agencies and programs that provide services to
68 children or that are responsible for a child’s safety, including
69 the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Health,
70 the Agency for Health Care Administration, the Agency for
71 Persons with Disabilities, the Department of Education, the
72 Department of Revenue, the school districts, the Statewide
73 Guardian Ad Litem Office, and any provider contracting with such
74 agencies, may share with each other confidential records or
75 information that are confidential or exempt from disclosure
76 under chapter 119 if the records or information are reasonably
77 necessary to ensure access to appropriate services for the
78 child, including child support enforcement services, or for the
79 safety of the child. However:
80 (a) Records or information made confidential by federal law
81 may not be shared.
82 (b) This subsection does not apply to information
83 concerning clients and records of certified domestic violence
84 centers, which are confidential under s. 39.908 and privileged
85 under s. 90.5036.
86 Section 2. Paragraph (r) is added to subsection (2) of
87 section 39.202, Florida Statutes, and subsection (7) of that
88 section is amended, to read:
89 39.202 Confidentiality of reports and records in cases of
90 child abuse or neglect.—
91 (2) Except as provided in subsection (4), access to such
92 records, excluding the name of the reporter which shall be
93 released only as provided in subsection (5), shall be granted
94 only to the following persons, officials, and agencies:
95 (r) Persons with whom the department is seeking to place
96 the child or to whom placement has been granted, including
97 foster parents for whom an approved home study has been
98 conducted, the designee of a licensed residential group home
99 described in s. 39.523, an approved relative or nonrelative with
100 whom a child is placed pursuant to s. 39.402, preadoptive
101 parents for whom a favorable preliminary adoptive home study has
102 been conducted, adoptive parents, or an adoption entity acting
103 on behalf of preadoptive or adoptive parents.
104 (7) The department shall make and keep reports and records
105 of all cases under this chapter relating to child abuse,
106 abandonment, and neglect and shall preserve the records
107 pertaining to a child and family until 7 years after the last
108 entry was made or until the child who is the subject of the
109 record is 30 is 18 years of age, whichever date is first
110 reached, and may then destroy the records. Department records
111 required by this chapter relating to child abuse, abandonment,
112 and neglect may be inspected only upon order of the court or as
113 provided for in this section.
114 (a) Within 90 days after the child leaves the department’s
115 custody, the department shall give a notice to the person having
116 legal custody of the child, or to the young adult who was in the
117 department’s custody, which specifies how the records may be
118 obtained.
119 (b) The department may adopt rules regarding the format,
120 storage, retrieval, and release of such records.
121 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.