Florida Senate - 2009                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 1128
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 302916                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  03/25/2009           .                                
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       The Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs (Rich)
       recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment 
    2  
    3         Delete lines 217 - 306
    4  and insert:
    5         (b)1. A surrogate parent shall be appointed for a child
    6  known to the department who has or is suspected of having a
    7  disability, as defined in s. 1003.01(3), by the dependency court
    8  or by the district school superintendent where the child is
    9  located if:
   10         a. After reasonable efforts, a parent cannot be located; or
   11         b. The court determines that no person has the authority
   12  under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or that no
   13  person having such authority is willing or able to serve as the
   14  child’s educational decisionmaker; and
   15         c. A surrogate parent has not been previously appointed for
   16  the child.
   17         2. The minimum qualifications, responsibilities, rights,
   18  and liabilities of a surrogate parent appointed pursuant to this
   19  section are the same as the minimum qualifications,
   20  responsibilities, rights, and liabilities of a surrogate parent
   21  appointed by a district school superintendent in accordance with
   22  rules adopted by the Department of Education.
   23         3. Employees of the Department of Education, the child’s
   24  local school district, a community-based care provider, the
   25  Department of Children and Family Services, or any other public
   26  or private agency involved in the education or care of the
   27  child; group home staff; and therapeutic foster home parents may
   28  not serve as surrogate parents. A person who acts in a parental
   29  role to a child, such as a foster parent or relative caregiver,
   30  a guardian ad litem, or a relative or other adult involved in
   31  the child’s life, regardless of whether that person has physical
   32  custody of the child, may serve as a surrogate parent.
   33         4. If the court appoints a surrogate parent, the court
   34  shall provide notice to the district school superintendent as
   35  soon as practicable.
   36         5. The district school superintendent must accept the
   37  appointment of a surrogate parent made by the dependency court
   38  if he or she has not previously appointed a surrogate parent.
   39  Similarly, the dependency court must accept a surrogate parent
   40  previously appointed by a district school superintendent.
   41         6. The appointment of a surrogate parent by a dependency
   42  court must be accepted by any subsequent school without regard
   43  to where the child resides in order for a single surrogate
   44  parent to follow the education of the child during the entire
   45  time the child is known to the department.
   46         7. The termination of a surrogate parent appointed pursuant
   47  to this section is governed by the same rules governing the
   48  termination of a surrogate parent appointed by a district school
   49  superintendent.