| 1 | The Future of Florida's Families Committee recommends the |
| 2 | following: |
| 3 |
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| 4 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 5 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 6 | A bill to be entitled |
| 7 | An act relating to child protective investigations; |
| 8 | amending s. 39.301, F.S.; prohibiting the use of |
| 9 | information contained in reports of child abuse, |
| 10 | abandonment, or neglect for purposes that adversely affect |
| 11 | the interests of persons who are not identified as |
| 12 | responsible for such abuse, abandonment, or neglect; |
| 13 | amending s. 39.302, F.S.; prohibiting the use of |
| 14 | information contained in reports of child abuse, |
| 15 | abandonment, or neglect in institutional investigations |
| 16 | for purposes that adversely affect the interests of |
| 17 | persons not identified as responsible; providing |
| 18 | circumstances under which the Department of Children and |
| 19 | Family Services may rely on such information in a decision |
| 20 | to renew or revoke a license; providing an effective date. |
| 21 |
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| 22 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 23 |
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| 24 | Section 1. Subsection (22) is added to section 39.301, |
| 25 | Florida Statutes, to read: |
| 26 | 39.301 Initiation of protective investigations.-- |
| 27 | (22) When an investigation is closed and a person is not |
| 28 | identified as a caregiver responsible for the abuse, neglect, or |
| 29 | abandonment alleged in the report, the fact that the person is |
| 30 | named in some capacity in the report may not be used in any way |
| 31 | to adversely affect the interests of that person. This |
| 32 | prohibition applies to any use of the information in employment |
| 33 | screening, licensing, child placement, adoption, or any other |
| 34 | decision by a private adoption agency or a state agency or its |
| 35 | contracted providers. |
| 36 | Section 2. Subsection (7) is added to section 39.302, |
| 37 | Florida Statutes, to read: |
| 38 | 39.302 Protective investigations of institutional child |
| 39 | abuse, abandonment, or neglect.-- |
| 40 | (7) When an investigation of institutional abuse, neglect, |
| 41 | or abandonment is closed and a person is not identified as a |
| 42 | caregiver responsible for the abuse, neglect, or abandonment |
| 43 | alleged in the report, the fact that the person is named in some |
| 44 | capacity in the report may not be used in any way to adversely |
| 45 | affect the interests of that person. This prohibition applies to |
| 46 | any use of the information in employment screening, licensing, |
| 47 | child placement, adoption, or any other decision by a private |
| 48 | adoption agency or a state agency or its contracted providers. |
| 49 | If such a person is a licensee of the department and is named in |
| 50 | any capacity in three or more reports within a 5-year period, |
| 51 | the department may review those reports and determine whether |
| 52 | the information contained in the reports is relevant for |
| 53 | purposes of determining whether the person's license should be |
| 54 | renewed or revoked. If the information is relevant to the |
| 55 | decision to renew or revoke the license, the department may rely |
| 56 | on the information contained in the report in making that |
| 57 | decision. |
| 58 | Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law. |