The Florida Senate

39.0121  Specific rulemaking authority.--Pursuant to the requirements of s. 120.536, the department is specifically authorized to adopt, amend, and repeal administrative rules which implement or interpret law or policy, or describe the procedure and practice requirements necessary to implement this chapter, including, but not limited to, the following:

(1)  Background screening of department employees and applicants; criminal records checks of prospective foster and adoptive parents; and drug testing of protective investigators.

(2)  Reporting of child abuse, neglect, and abandonment; reporting of child-on-child sexual abuse; false reporting; child protective investigations; taking a child into protective custody; and shelter procedures.

(3)  Confidentiality and retention of department records; access to records; and record requests.

(4)  Department and client trust funds.

(5)  Requesting of services from child protection teams.

(6)  Consent to and provision of medical care and treatment for children in the care of the department.

(7)  Federal funding requirements and procedures; foster care and adoption subsidies; subsidized independent living; and subsidized child care.

(8)  Agreements with law enforcement and other state agencies; access to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC); and access to the parent locator service.

(9)  Licensing, registration, and certification of child day care providers, shelter and foster homes, and residential child-caring and child-placing agencies.

(10)  The Family Builders Program, the Intensive Crisis Counseling Program, and any other early intervention programs and kinship care assistance programs.

(11)  Department contracts, pilot programs, and demonstration projects.

(12)  Legal and casework procedures, including, but not limited to, mediation, diligent search, stipulations, consents, surrenders, and default, with respect to dependency, termination of parental rights, adoption, guardianship, and kinship care proceedings.

(13)  Legal and casework management of cases involving in-home supervision and out-of-home care, including judicial reviews, administrative reviews, case plans, and any other documentation or procedures required by federal or state law.

(14)  Injunctions and other protective orders, domestic-violence-related cases, and certification of domestic violence centers.

(15)  Provision for making available to all physical custodians and family services counselors the information required by s. 39.6012(2) and for ensuring that this information follows the child until permanency has been achieved.

(16)  Provisions for reporting, locating, recovering, and stabilizing children whose whereabouts become unknown while they are involved with the department and for preventing recurrences of such incidents. At a minimum, the rules must:

(a)  Provide comprehensive, explicit, and consistent guidelines to be followed by the department's employees and contracted providers when the whereabouts of a child involved with the department are unknown.

(b)  Include criteria to determine when a child is missing for purposes of making a report to a law enforcement agency, and require that in all cases in which a law enforcement agency has accepted a case for criminal investigation pursuant to s. 39.301(2)(c) and the child's whereabouts are unknown, the child shall be considered missing and a report made.

(c)  Include steps to be taken by employees and contracted providers to ensure and provide evidence that parents and guardians have been advised of the requirements of s. 787.04(3) and that violations are reported.

History.--s. 23, ch. 98-403; s. 6, ch. 99-193; s. 2, ch. 2006-86; s. 2, ch. 2008-245.