Florida Senate - 2010 CS for CS for SB 1298
By the Committees on Judiciary; and Children, Families, and
Elder Affairs; and Senators Wise and Gaetz
590-03778-10 20101298c2
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to supervised visitation and exchange
3 monitoring programs; creating s. 753.06, F.S.;
4 adopting state standards for supervised visitation and
5 exchange monitoring programs; providing for
6 modification; requiring the standards to be published
7 on the website of the Clearinghouse on Supervised
8 Visitation; requiring each program to annually affirm
9 compliance with the standards to the court; creating
10 s. 753.07, F.S.; providing factors for the court or
11 child-placing agency to consider when referring cases
12 for supervised visitation or exchange monitoring;
13 specifying training requirements for persons referring
14 to or providing such services; authorizing supervised
15 visitation programs to alert the court to problems
16 with referred cases; creating s. 753.08, F.S.;
17 authorizing supervised visitation or monitored
18 exchange programs to conduct security background
19 checks of employees and volunteers and criminal
20 records checks through the Department of Law
21 Enforcement; providing standards for such background
22 checks; requiring that an employer furnish a copy of
23 the personnel record for the employee or former
24 employee upon request; requiring that such personnel
25 record contain certain information; requiring that all
26 applicants hired or certified by a program after a
27 specified date undergo a level 2 background screening
28 before being hired or certified; providing immunity to
29 employers who provide information for purposes of a
30 background check; providing that certain persons
31 providing services at a supervised visitation or
32 monitored exchange program are presumed to act in good
33 faith and are immune from civil or criminal liability;
34 providing exceptions; creating s. 753.09, F.S.;
35 providing that after a specified date only those
36 supervised visitation programs that adhere to the
37 state standards may receive state funding; providing
38 an effective date.
39
40 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
41
42 Section 1. Section 753.06, Florida Statutes, is created to
43 read:
44 753.06 Standards.—
45 (1) The standards announced in the final report submitted
46 to the Legislature pursuant to s. 753.03(4) shall be the basis
47 for the state’s standards for supervised visitation and exchange
48 monitoring programs, and may be modified only by the advisory
49 board created under s. 753.03(2) after reasonable notice to the
50 programs, but not more often than annually. The clearinghouse
51 shall publish the standards, as modified, on its website. The
52 published standards shall be regarded as the state standards for
53 supervised visitation and exchange monitoring programs.
54 (2) Each supervised visitation and exchange monitoring
55 program must affirm annually in a written agreement with the
56 court that they abide by the standards. If the program has a
57 contract with a child-placing agency, that contract must include
58 an affirmation that the program complies with the standards. A
59 copy of the agreement or contract must be made available to any
60 party upon request.
61 Section 2. Section 753.07, Florida Statutes, is created to
62 read:
63 753.07 Referrals.—
64 (1) Courts and referring child-placing agencies must adhere
65 to the following priorities when determining where to refer
66 cases for supervised visitation or exchange monitoring:
67 (a) For cases that are filed under chapter 61 or chapter
68 741 where the courts are the primary source of referrals, the
69 court shall direct referrals for supervised visitation or
70 exchange monitoring as follows:
71 1. The order shall refer the parties to a supervised
72 visitation or exchange monitoring program that has a written
73 agreement with the court as provided in s. 753.06(2) if such a
74 program exists in the community.
75 2. If a program does not exist, or if the existing program
76 is not able to accept the referral for any reason, the court may
77 refer the case to a local mental health professional. Such
78 professionals are not required to abide by the state standards
79 established in s. 753.06(1); however, such professionals must
80 affirm to the court in writing that they have completed the
81 clearinghouse’s free, online supervised visitation training
82 program and have read and understood the state standards.
83 (b) In cases governed by chapter 39, the referring child
84 placing agency must adhere to the following:
85 1. The agency having primary responsibility for the case
86 must ensure that each family is assessed for problems that could
87 present safety risks during parent-child contact. If risks are
88 present, agency staff shall consider referring the parties to a
89 local supervised visitation program that has affirmed in writing
90 that it adheres to the state standards if such a program exists
91 in the community.
92 2. If agency staff determine that there is no need for a
93 supervised visitation program, no such program exists, or the
94 existing program is unable to accept the referral for any
95 reason, the child protective investigator or case manager having
96 primary responsibility for the case may:
97 a. Supervise the parent-child contact him or herself.
98 However, before a child protective investigator or case manager
99 may supervise visits, he or she must review or receive training
100 on the online training manual for the state’s supervised
101 visitation programs and affirm in writing to his or her own
102 agency that he or she has received training on, or read and
103 understands, the state standards.
104 b. Designate a foster parent or relative to supervise the
105 parent-child visits in those cases that do not warrant the
106 supervision of the child protective investigator or case
107 manager. However, the designated foster parent or relative must
108 first be apprised that the case manager conducted a safety
109 assessment described in subparagraph 1., and must be provided
110 access to free training material on the foster parent’s or
111 relative’s role in supervised visitation. Such materials may be
112 created by the clearinghouse using existing or new material, and
113 must be approved by the department. Such training may be
114 included in any preservice foster parent training done by the
115 agency.
116 3. If a program does not exist, or if the existing program
117 is unable to accept the referral and the child protective
118 investigator or case manager is unable to supervise the parent
119 child contact or designate a foster parent or relative to
120 supervise the visits as described in subparagraph 2., the agency
121 having primary responsibility for the case may refer the case to
122 other qualified staff within that agency to supervise the
123 contact. However, before such staff may supervise any visits, he
124 or she must review or receive training on the online training
125 manual for supervised visitation programs and affirm in writing
126 to his or her own agency that he or she has received training
127 on, or has read and understands, the training manual and the
128 state standards.
129 4. The agency that has primary responsibility for the case
130 may not refer the case to a subcontractor or other agency to
131 perform the supervised visitation unless that subcontractor’s or
132 other agency’s child protective investigators or case managers
133 who supervise onsite or offsite visits have reviewed or received
134 training on the clearinghouse’s online training manual for
135 supervised visitation programs and affirm to their own agency
136 that they have received training on, or have read and
137 understand, the training manual and the state standards.
138 (2) This section does not prohibit the court from allowing
139 a litigant’s relatives or friends to supervise visits if the
140 court determines that such supervision is safe. However, such
141 informal supervisors must be made aware of the free online
142 clearinghouse materials that they may voluntarily choose to
143 review. These materials must provide information that helps
144 educate the informal supervisors about the inherent risks and
145 complicated dynamics of supervised visitation.
146 (3) Supervised visitation and exchange monitoring programs
147 may alert the court in writing if there are problems with cases
148 referred and the court may set a hearing to address these
149 problems.
150 Section 3. Section 753.08, Florida Statutes, is created to
151 read:
152 753.08 Service providers; background checks; immunity.—
153 (1) Because of the special trust or responsibility placed
154 in volunteers and employees of supervised visitation and
155 supervised exchange programs, such program must conduct a
156 security background investigation before hiring an employee or
157 certifying a volunteer to serve. A security background
158 investigation shall include, but need not be limited to,
159 employment history checks, checks of references, local criminal
160 history records checks through local law enforcement agencies,
161 and statewide criminal history records checks through the
162 Department of Law Enforcement. Upon request, an employer shall
163 furnish a copy of the personnel record for the employee or
164 former employee who is the subject of a security background
165 investigation conducted pursuant to this section. The
166 information contained in the personnel record may include, but
167 need not be limited to, disciplinary matters and the reason why
168 the employee was terminated from employment. An employer who
169 releases a personnel record for purposes of a security
170 background investigation is presumed to have acted in good faith
171 and is not liable for information contained in the record
172 without a showing that the employer maliciously falsified the
173 record. A security background investigation conducted pursuant
174 to this section shall ensure that a person is not hired as an
175 employee or certified as a volunteer if the person has an arrest
176 awaiting final disposition for, has been convicted of,
177 regardless of adjudication, has entered a plea of nolo
178 contendere or guilty to, or has been adjudicated delinquent and
179 the record has not been sealed or expunged for, any offense
180 prohibited under the provisions listed in s. 435.04. All
181 applicants hired or certified on or after July 1, 2010, must
182 undergo a level 2 background screening pursuant to chapter 435
183 before being hired or certified. In analyzing and evaluating the
184 information obtained in the security background investigation,
185 the program must give particular emphasis to past activities
186 involving children, including, but not limited to, child-related
187 criminal offenses or child abuse. The program has sole
188 discretion in determining whether to hire or certify a person
189 based on his or her security background investigation.
190 (2) Any person who is providing services at a supervised
191 visitation or exchange monitoring program who has affirmed to
192 the court in writing that he or she abides by the state
193 standards described in s. 753.06 is presumed, prima facie, to be
194 acting in good faith and is immune from any liability, civil or
195 criminal, which otherwise might be incurred or imposed with
196 regard to the provision of such services.
197 Section 4. Section 753.09, Florida Statutes, is created to
198 read:
199 753.09 Funding.—On or after January 1, 2011, only a
200 supervised visitation program that has affirmed in a written
201 agreement with the court that it abides by and is in compliance
202 with the state standards provided under s. 753.06(1) may receive
203 state funding for visitation or exchange monitoring services.
204 Section 5. This act shall take effect October 1, 2010.