The Florida Senate

A county or municipal government may plan, develop, and coordinate services and programs for the control and rehabilitative treatment of delinquent behavior.

A county or municipal government may develop or contract for innovative programs that provide rehabilitative treatment with particular emphasis on reintegration and conditional release for all children in the program, including halfway houses and community-based substance abuse treatment services, mental health treatment services, residential and nonresidential programs, environmental programs, and programs for serious or habitual juvenile offenders.

A county or municipal government developing or contracting for a local program pursuant to this section is responsible for all costs associated with the establishment, operation, and maintenance of the program.

In accordance with rules adopted by the department, a county or municipal government may transfer a child, when necessary to appropriately administer the child’s commitment, from one facility or program operated, contracted, or subcontracted by the county or municipal government to another such facility or program.

In view of the importance of the basic value of work, responsibility, and self-reliance to a child’s rehabilitation within his or her community, a county or municipal government may provide work programs for delinquent children and may pay a child a reasonable sum of money for work performed while employed in any such work program. The work involved in such work programs must be designed to benefit the county or municipal government, the local community, or the state.

A county or municipal government developing or contracting for a local program pursuant to this section is responsible for following state law and department rules relating to children’s delinquency services and for the coordination of its efforts with those of the Federal Government, state agencies, private agencies, and child advocacy groups providing such services.

The department is required to conduct quarterly inspections and evaluations of each county or municipal government juvenile delinquency program to determine whether the program complies with department rules for continued operation of the program. The department shall charge, and the county or municipal government shall pay, a monitoring fee equal to 0.5 percent of the direct operating costs of the program. The operation of a program which fails to pass the department’s quarterly inspection and evaluation, if the deficiency causing the failure is material, must be terminated if such deficiency is not corrected by the next quarterly inspection.

A county or municipal government providing a local program pursuant to this section shall ensure that personnel responsible for the care, supervision, and treatment of children in the program are apprised of the requirements of this section and appropriately trained to comply with department rules.

A county or municipal government may establish and operate a juvenile detention facility in compliance with this section, if such facility is certified by the department.