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The Florida Senate

2015 Florida Statutes

Title XXX SOCIAL WELFARE
Chapter 409 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE Entire Chapter
SECTION 1754
Sexually exploited children; screening and assessment; training; case management; task forces.
F.S. 409.1754
409.1754 Sexually exploited children; screening and assessment; training; case management; task forces.—
(1) SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT.—
(a) The department shall develop or adopt one or more initial screening and assessment instruments to identify, determine the needs of, plan services for, and determine the appropriate placement for sexually exploited children. The department shall consult state and local agencies, organizations, and individuals involved in the identification and care of sexually exploited children when developing or adopting initial screening and assessment instruments. Initial screening and assessment instruments shall assess the appropriate placement of a sexually exploited child, including whether placement in a safe house or safe foster home is appropriate, and shall consider, at a minimum, the following factors:
1. Risk of the child running away.
2. Risk of the child recruiting other children into the commercial sex trade.
3. Level of the child’s attachment to his or her exploiter.
4. Level and type of trauma that the child has endured.
5. Nature of the child’s interactions with law enforcement.
6. Length of time that the child was sexually exploited.
7. Extent of any substance abuse by the child.
(b) The initial screening and assessment instruments shall be validated, if possible, and must be used by the department, juvenile assessment centers as provided in s. 985.135, and community-based care lead agencies.
(c) The department shall adopt rules that specify the initial screening and assessment instruments to be used and provide requirements for their use and for the reporting of data collected through their use.
(d) The department, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and community-based care lead agencies may use additional assessment instruments in the course of serving sexually exploited children.
(2) TRAINING; CASE MANAGEMENT; TASK FORCES.—
(a)1. The department and community-based care lead agencies shall ensure that cases in which a child is alleged, suspected, or known to have been sexually exploited are assigned to child protective investigators and case managers who have specialized intensive training in handling cases involving a sexually exploited child. The department and lead agencies shall ensure that child protective investigators and case managers receive this training before accepting a case involving a sexually exploited child.
2. The Department of Juvenile Justice shall ensure that juvenile probation staff or contractors administering the detention risk assessment instrument pursuant to s. 985.14 receive specialized intensive training in identifying and serving sexually exploited children.
(b) The department and community-based care lead agencies shall conduct regular multidisciplinary staffings relating to services provided for sexually exploited children to ensure that all parties possess relevant information and services are coordinated across systems. The department or community-based care lead agency, as appropriate, shall coordinate these staffings and invite individuals involved in the child’s care, including, but not limited to, the child’s guardian ad litem, juvenile justice system staff, school district staff, service providers, and victim advocates.
(c)1. Each region of the department and each community-based care lead agency shall jointly assess local service capacity to meet the specialized service needs of sexually exploited children and establish a plan to develop the necessary capacity. Each plan shall be developed in consultation with local law enforcement officials, local school officials, runaway and homeless youth program providers, local probation departments, children’s advocacy centers, guardians ad litem, public defenders, state attorneys’ offices, safe houses, and child advocates and service providers who work directly with sexually exploited children.
2. Each region of the department and each community-based care lead agency shall establish local protocols and procedures for working with sexually exploited children which are responsive to the individual circumstances of each child. The protocols and procedures shall take into account the varying types and levels of trauma endured; whether the sexual exploitation is actively occurring, occurred in the past, or is inactive but likely to recur; and the differing community resources and degrees of familial support that are available. Child protective investigators and case managers must use these protocols and procedures when working with a sexually exploited child.
(3) LOCAL RESPONSE TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING; TRAINING; TASK FORCE.—
(a) To the extent that funds are available, the local regional director may provide training to local law enforcement officials who are likely to encounter sexually exploited children in the course of their law enforcement duties. Training shall address the provisions of this section and how to identify and obtain appropriate services for sexually exploited children. The local circuit administrator may contract with a not-for-profit agency with experience working with sexually exploited children to provide the training. Circuits may work cooperatively to provide training, which may be provided on a regional basis. The department shall assist circuits to obtain available funds for the purpose of conducting law enforcement training from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the United States Department of Justice.
(b) Circuit administrators or their designees, chief probation officers of the Department of Juvenile Justice or their designees, and the chief operating officers of community-based care lead agencies or their designees shall participate in any task force, committee, council, advisory group, coalition, or other entity in their service area that is involved in coordinating responses to address human trafficking or sexual exploitation of children. If such entity does not exist, the circuit administrator for the department shall initiate one.
History.—s. 1, ch. 2014-161.