Florida Senate - 2011 CS for SB 364
By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and
Senator Latvala
586-02286-11 2011364c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to child care facilities; amending s.
3 402.302, F.S.; revising and providing definitions;
4 providing for certain household children to be
5 included in calculations regarding the capacity of
6 licensed family day care homes and large family child
7 care homes; providing conditions for supervision of
8 household children of operators of family day care
9 homes and large family child care homes; amending s.
10 402.318, F.S.; revising advertising requirements
11 applicable to child care facilities; providing
12 penalties; amending s. 411.01, F.S., relating to
13 school readiness programs; conforming a cross
14 reference; providing an effective date.
15
16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
17
18 Section 1. Section 402.302, Florida Statutes, is amended to
19 read:
20 402.302 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, the term:
21 (1) “Child care” means the care, protection, and
22 supervision of a child, for a period of less than 24 hours a day
23 on a regular basis, which supplements parental care, enrichment,
24 and health supervision for the child, in accordance with his or
25 her individual needs, and for which a payment, fee, or grant is
26 made for care.
27 (2) “Child care facility” includes any child care center or
28 child care arrangement which provides child care for more than
29 five children unrelated to the operator and which receives a
30 payment, fee, or grant for any of the children receiving care,
31 wherever operated, and whether or not operated for profit. The
32 following are not included:
33 (a) Public schools and nonpublic schools and their integral
34 programs, except as provided in s. 402.3025;
35 (b) Summer camps having children in full-time residence;
36 (c) Summer day camps;
37 (d) Bible schools normally conducted during vacation
38 periods; and
39 (e) Operators of transient establishments, as defined in
40 chapter 509, which provide child care services solely for the
41 guests of their establishment or resort, provided that all child
42 care personnel of the establishment are screened according to
43 the level 2 screening requirements of chapter 435.
44 (3) “Child care personnel” means all owners, operators,
45 employees, and volunteers working in a child care facility. The
46 term does not include persons who work in a child care facility
47 after hours when children are not present or parents of children
48 in a child care facility. For purposes of screening, the term
49 includes any member, over the age of 12 years, of a child care
50 facility operator’s family, or person, over the age of 12 years,
51 residing with a child care facility operator if the child care
52 facility is located in or adjacent to the home of the operator
53 or if the family member of, or person residing with, the child
54 care facility operator has any direct contact with the children
55 in the facility during its hours of operation. Members of the
56 operator’s family or persons residing with the operator who are
57 between the ages of 12 years and 18 years are not required to be
58 fingerprinted but must be screened for delinquency records. For
59 purposes of screening, the term also includes persons who work
60 in child care programs that provide care for children 15 hours
61 or more each week in public or nonpublic schools, family day
62 care homes, or programs otherwise exempted under s. 402.316. The
63 term does not include public or nonpublic school personnel who
64 are providing care during regular school hours, or after hours
65 for activities related to a school’s program for grades
66 kindergarten through 12. A volunteer who assists on an
67 intermittent basis for less than 10 hours per month is not
68 included in the term “personnel” for the purposes of screening
69 and training if a person who meets the screening requirement of
70 s. 402.305(2) is always present and has the volunteer in his or
71 her line of sight. Students who observe and participate in a
72 child care facility as a part of their required coursework are
73 not considered child care personnel, provided such observation
74 and participation are on an intermittent basis and a person who
75 meets the screening requirement of s. 402.305(2) is always
76 present and has the student in his or her line of sight.
77 (4) “Child welfare provider” means a licensed child-caring
78 or child-placing agency.
79 (5) “Department” means the Department of Children and
80 Family Services.
81 (6) “Drop-in child care” means child care provided
82 occasionally in a child care facility in a shopping mall or
83 business establishment where a child is in care for no more than
84 a 4-hour period and the parent remains on the premises of the
85 shopping mall or business establishment at all times. Drop-in
86 child care arrangements shall meet all requirements for a child
87 care facility unless specifically exempted.
88 (7) “Evening child care” means child care provided during
89 the evening hours and may encompass the hours of 6:00 p.m. to
90 7:00 a.m. to accommodate parents who work evenings and late
91 night shifts.
92 (8) “Family day care home” means an occupied residence in
93 which child care is regularly provided for children from at
94 least two unrelated families and which receives a payment, fee,
95 or grant for any of the children receiving care, whether or not
96 operated for profit. Household children under 13 years of age,
97 when on the premises of the family day care home or on a field
98 trip with children enrolled in child care, shall be included in
99 the overall capacity of the licensed home. A family day care
100 home shall be allowed to provide care for one of the following
101 groups of children, which shall include household those children
102 under 13 years of age who are related to the caregiver:
103 (a) A maximum of four children from birth to 12 months of
104 age.
105 (b) A maximum of three children from birth to 12 months of
106 age, and other children, for a maximum total of six children.
107 (c) A maximum of six preschool children if all are older
108 than 12 months of age.
109 (d) A maximum of 10 children if no more than 5 are
110 preschool age and, of those 5, no more than 2 are under 12
111 months of age.
112 (9) “Household children” means children who are related by
113 blood, marriage, or legal adoption to, or who are the legal
114 wards of, the family day care home operator, the large family
115 child care home operator, or an adult household member who
116 permanently or temporarily resides in the home. Supervision of
117 the operator’s household children shall be left to the
118 discretion of the operator unless those children receive
119 subsidized child care to be in the home.
120 (10)(9) “Large family child care home” means an occupied
121 residence in which child care is regularly provided for children
122 from at least two unrelated families, which receives a payment,
123 fee, or grant for any of the children receiving care, whether or
124 not operated for profit, and which has at least two full-time
125 child care personnel on the premises during the hours of
126 operation. One of the two full-time child care personnel must be
127 the owner or occupant of the residence. A large family child
128 care home must first have operated as a licensed family day care
129 home for 2 years, with an operator who has had a child
130 development associate credential or its equivalent for 1 year,
131 before seeking licensure as a large family child care home.
132 Household children under 13 years of age, when on the premises
133 of the large family child care home or on a field trip with
134 children enrolled in child care, shall be included in the
135 overall capacity of the licensed home. A large family child care
136 home shall be allowed to provide care for one of the following
137 groups of children, which shall include household those children
138 under 13 years of age who are related to the caregiver:
139 (a) A maximum of 8 children from birth to 24 months of age.
140 (b) A maximum of 12 children, with no more than 4 children
141 under 24 months of age.
142 (11)(10) “Indoor recreational facility” means an indoor
143 commercial facility which is established for the primary purpose
144 of entertaining children in a planned fitness environment
145 through equipment, games, and activities in conjunction with
146 food service and which provides child care for a particular
147 child no more than 4 hours on any one day. An indoor
148 recreational facility must be licensed as a child care facility
149 under s. 402.305, but is exempt from the minimum outdoor-square
150 footage-per-child requirement specified in that section, if the
151 indoor recreational facility has, at a minimum, 3,000 square
152 feet of usable indoor floor space.
153 (12)(11) “Local licensing agency” means any agency or
154 individual designated by the county to license child care
155 facilities.
156 (13)(12) “Operator” means any onsite person ultimately
157 responsible for the overall operation of a child care facility,
158 whether or not he or she is the owner or administrator of such
159 facility.
160 (14)(13) “Owner” means the person who is licensed to
161 operate the child care facility.
162 (15)(14) “Screening” means the act of assessing the
163 background of child care personnel and volunteers and includes,
164 but is not limited to, employment history checks, local criminal
165 records checks through local law enforcement agencies,
166 fingerprinting for all purposes and checks in this subsection,
167 statewide criminal records checks through the Department of Law
168 Enforcement, and federal criminal records checks through the
169 Federal Bureau of Investigation.
170 (16)(15) “Secretary” means the Secretary of Children and
171 Family Services.
172 (17)(16) “Substantial compliance” means that level of
173 adherence which is sufficient to safeguard the health, safety,
174 and well-being of all children under care. Substantial
175 compliance is greater than minimal adherence but not to the
176 level of absolute adherence. Where a violation or variation is
177 identified as the type which impacts, or can be reasonably
178 expected within 90 days to impact, the health, safety, or well
179 being of a child, there is no substantial compliance.
180 (18)(17) “Weekend child care” means child care provided
181 between the hours of 6 p.m. on Friday and 6 a.m. on Monday.
182 Section 2. Section 402.318, Florida Statutes, is amended to
183 read:
184 402.318 Advertisement.—A No person, as defined in s.
185 1.01(3), may not shall advertise or publish an advertisement for
186 a child care facility, family day care home, or large family
187 child care home without including within such advertisement the
188 state or local agency license number or registration number of
189 such facility or home. Violation of this section is a
190 misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s.
191 775.082 or s. 775.083.
192 Section 3. Paragraph (c) of subsection (5) of section
193 411.01, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
194 411.01 School readiness programs; early learning
195 coalitions.—
196 (5) CREATION OF EARLY LEARNING COALITIONS.—
197 (c) Program expectations.—
198 1. The school readiness program must meet the following
199 expectations:
200 a. The program must, at a minimum, enhance the age
201 appropriate progress of each child in attaining the performance
202 standards and outcome measures adopted by the Agency for
203 Workforce Innovation.
204 b. The program must provide extended-day and extended-year
205 services to the maximum extent possible without compromising the
206 quality of the program to meet the needs of parents who work.
207 c. The program must provide a coordinated professional
208 development system that supports the achievement and maintenance
209 of core competencies by school readiness instructors in helping
210 children attain the performance standards and outcome measures
211 adopted by the Agency for Workforce Innovation.
212 d. There must be expanded access to community services and
213 resources for families to help achieve economic self
214 sufficiency.
215 e. There must be a single point of entry and unified
216 waiting list. As used in this sub-subparagraph, the term “single
217 point of entry” means an integrated information system that
218 allows a parent to enroll his or her child in the school
219 readiness program at various locations throughout a county, that
220 may allow a parent to enroll his or her child by telephone or
221 through an Internet website, and that uses a unified waiting
222 list to track eligible children waiting for enrollment in the
223 school readiness program. The Agency for Workforce Innovation
224 shall establish through technology a single statewide
225 information system that each coalition must use for the purposes
226 of managing the single point of entry, tracking children’s
227 progress, coordinating services among stakeholders, determining
228 eligibility, tracking child attendance, and streamlining
229 administrative processes for providers and early learning
230 coalitions.
231 f. The Agency for Workforce Innovation must consider the
232 access of eligible children to the school readiness program, as
233 demonstrated in part by waiting lists, before approving a
234 proposed increase in payment rates submitted by an early
235 learning coalition. In addition, early learning coalitions shall
236 use school readiness funds made available due to enrollment
237 shifts from school readiness programs to the Voluntary
238 Prekindergarten Education Program for increasing the number of
239 children served in school readiness programs before increasing
240 payment rates.
241 g. The program must meet all state licensing guidelines,
242 where applicable.
243 h. The program must ensure that minimum standards for child
244 discipline practices are age-appropriate. Such standards must
245 provide that children not be subjected to discipline that is
246 severe, humiliating, or frightening or discipline that is
247 associated with food, rest, or toileting. Spanking or any other
248 form of physical punishment is prohibited.
249 2. Each early learning coalition must implement a
250 comprehensive program of school readiness services in accordance
251 with the rules adopted by the agency which enhance the
252 cognitive, social, and physical development of children to
253 achieve the performance standards and outcome measures. At a
254 minimum, these programs must contain the following system
255 support service elements:
256 a. Developmentally appropriate curriculum designed to
257 enhance the age-appropriate progress of children in attaining
258 the performance standards adopted by the Agency for Workforce
259 Innovation under subparagraph (4)(d)8.
260 b. A character development program to develop basic values.
261 c. An age-appropriate screening of each child’s
262 development.
263 d. An age-appropriate assessment administered to children
264 when they enter a program and an age-appropriate assessment
265 administered to children when they leave the program.
266 e. An appropriate staff-to-children ratio, pursuant to s.
267 402.305(4) or s. 402.302(8) or (10) s. 402.302(7) or (8), as
268 applicable, and as verified pursuant to s. 402.311.
269 f. A healthy and safe environment pursuant to s.
270 401.305(5), (6), and (7), as applicable, and as verified
271 pursuant to s. 402.311.
272 g. A resource and referral network established under s.
273 411.0101 to assist parents in making an informed choice and a
274 regional Warm-Line under s. 411.01015.
275
276 The Agency for Workforce Innovation, the Department of
277 Education, and early learning coalitions shall coordinate with
278 the Child Care Services Program Office of the Department of
279 Children and Family Services to minimize duplicating interagency
280 activities pertaining to acquiring and composing data for child
281 care training and credentialing.
282 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.