The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs
BILL: SB 1582
INTRODUCER: Senator Rouson
SUBJECT: Task Force on the Monitoring of Children in Out-of-Home Care
DATE: March 15, 2021 REVISED:
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Preston Cox CF Favorable
2. AHS
3. AP
I. Summary:
SB 1582 creates the Task Force on the Monitoring of Children in Out-of-Home Care for the
purpose of developing a statewide system for collecting information on, and monitoring the
whereabouts and safety of, children in out-of-home care. The task force is also required to
explore ways to improve the use of technology, training, communication, and cooperation among
all entities involved in the child welfare system in order to improve the quality of care of these
children and identify children who are at risk for being lost.
The task force must also develop statewide uniform guidelines, standards, and protocols to
effectively respond when a child in out-of-home care is reported missing.
The bill specifies the task force is to be established within the Department of Children and
Families (DCF or department) and authorizes the task force to conduct meetings through
teleconferences as often as necessary.
The task force is to be composed of 15 members. Five members shall be appointed by the
Governor, five members shall be appointed by the President of the Senate, and five members
shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The task force shall be
composed of representatives from the department, the Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE),
the Guardian Ad Litem Program (GAL), Safe Kids Florida within the Department of Health
(DOH), community-based care lead agencies (CBCs), and Child Protection Teams (CPT).
The bill requires monthly reports to the secretary of the department and requires the task force to
annually submit certain recommendations to the Governor and the President of the Senate and
the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The bill will have no fiscal impact on state government.
The bill has an effective date of July 1, 2021.
BILL: SB 1582 Page 2
II. Present Situation:
Out-of-home care
Out-of-home care, also known as foster care, is a court-monitored process that includes the
placements and services provided to children and families when children are removed from their
home due to abuse, abandonment, or neglect. Before a decision is made to remove a child, child
welfare staff must make reasonable efforts to safely maintain children with their families by
providing a variety of services and supports tailored to each family’s needs. If reasonable efforts
have been made and safety concerns remain, then the court may order that a child be removed
from his or her home and placed into out-of-home care. Once removed, the shelter and daily care
for the child are provided by foster or kinship families or group home staff. These caregivers
undergo an assessment and licensing or certification process to ensure their suitability as
caregivers. While in out-of-home care, services are provided to the child and his or her parents to
help improve the problems that led to the removal so that reunification or other permanency
options may be reached as quickly as possible.1
Task forces, councils, commissions
Section 20.03, F.S., provides definitions related to organizational structure including, but not
limited to:
“Council” or “advisory council” means an advisory body created by specific statutory
enactment and appointed to function on a continuing basis for the study of the problems
arising in a specified functional or program area of state government and to provide
recommendations and policy alternatives.2
“Committee” or “task force” means an advisory body created without specific statutory
enactment for a time not to exceed 1 year or created by specific statutory enactment for a
time not to exceed 3 years and appointed to study a specific problem and recommend a
solution or policy alternative with respect to that problem. Its existence terminates upon the
completion of its assignment.3
“Coordinating council” means an interdepartmental advisory body created by law to
coordinate programs and activities for which one department has primary responsibility but
in which one or more other departments have an interest.4
“Commission,” unless otherwise required by the State Constitution, means a body created by
specific statutory enactment within a department, the office of the Governor, or the Executive
Office of the Governor and exercising limited quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial powers, or
both, independently of the head of the department or the Governor.5
Florida has had a number of tasks forces established in the past related to child welfare. These
have typically been created by either the Governor or the secretary of the department in response
1
Child Welfare Information Gateway, Out-of- Home Care Overview, available at
https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/outofhome/overview/#:~:text=Out%2Dof%2Dhome%20care%20is,to%20abuse%20and
%2For%20neglect. (last visited March 13, 2021).
2
Section 20.03(7), F.S.
3
Section 20.30(8). F.S.
4
Section 20.03(9), F.S.
5
Section 20.03(10). F.S.
BILL: SB 1582 Page 3
to a tragic incident involving a child that has garnered publicity. Examples of these include, in
part:
The Nubia Barahona Report - The Investigative Panel’s Findings and Recommendations,
March 10, 2011.
DCF Family Safety Quality Assurance Review of Courtney Alisa Clark - Initial Findings,
2007.
Report of Gabriel Myers Work Group on Child-on-Child Sexual Abuse, May 14, 2010.
Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Protection, Nov. 7, 2003 (Rilya Wilson).
The Governor's Panel and Child Protection Issues: A Review of the Lucas Chambrone Case
Final Report, 1995.
Task Force on Child Protection, October 2007- September 2008.
There is currently no task force that monitors children in out-of-home care.
Missing Children
Florida has had protocols in place since 2008 to effectively address the purpose specified in the
bill related to children missing from out-of-home care.6 A Florida Senate interim project report
noted that the disappearance of Rilya Wilson in 2002 raised national awareness of the problem of
children who become missing while under the care of the child welfare agencies charged with
protecting them. Since then, Florida and many other states studied the issue and enacted
legislation and implemented policies intended to improve tracking of children in state care.7 The
report also made a number of recommendations related to changes in Florida law, including:
The DCF should be given rule-making authority specific to missing children. The department
should be directed to promulgate rules that will provide comprehensive, explicit and
consistent guidelines to be followed by its employees and contracted providers.
In addition, the Legislature should consider amending Chapter 39 to require the department
and its contracted providers to report a child as missing to the appropriate law enforcement
agency, after making reasonable but unsuccessful efforts to locate the child and determining
that it is necessary to report the child as missing.
Section 937.021(1), F.S., should be amended to make it clear that a law enforcement agency
must take reports of missing children not only from parents and guardians, but also from the
department or its contracted providers.
Section 787.04(3), F.S., related to removing a child during an investigation or while under
protective supervision, should be amended to require that a defendant act knowingly and
willfully, rather than with criminal intent, after receiving constructive or actual notice of the
pending matter.
All of these recommendations were enacted during the 2008 legislative session.8
6
Sections 39.0141 and 943.021(4), F.S.
7
The Florida Senate, The Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs, Missing Children, Interim Project Report
2008-106, October 2007, available at
https://www.flsenate.gov/UserContent/Committees/Publications/InterimWorkProgram/2008/pdf/2008-106cf.pdf (last visited
March 12, 2021).
8
Chapter 2008-245, L.O.F.
BILL: SB 1582 Page 4
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) reports that the FDLE’s Missing
Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse (MEPIC)9 led a multi-agency, statewide effort,
titled “Operation Safe Kids.” Part of this operation’s work was implementation of the now
standard procedure, opening missing persons cases for every child discovered missing while
under the DCF custody. The DCF, as the custodian of the missing child, makes the initial
missing report to the appropriate local law enforcement agency who then enters the case into the
Florida Crime Information System (FCIC). This entry ensures all law enforcement and criminal
justice professionals nationwide making inquiry regarding a possible missing child similar to the
subject of the case are notified of the Florida missing child. Additionally, the DCF creates a
record in the Florida Safe Families Network (FSFN), their internal database, concerning the
missing episode.10
A DCF liaison, co-located within MEPIC, quality controls the information in FSFN using
internal DCF information and the missing child’s FCIC entry. This information is electronically
transferred from the DCF liaison to members of MEPIC who facilitate its entry into MEPIC’s
Missing Persons Database (MPDB). In addition to populating a variety of Florida systems and
access points to the information, MPDB also electronically transfers the information regarding
the child to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). When fully
implemented as an electronic network in February of 2008, this relay process became the first of
its kind in the nation, rapidly transferring the missing record of a child in state care, to both state
and federal missing persons clearinghouses to help optimize the safe recovery of the child in
minimal time.11
The co-location and partnership with DCF personnel within MEPIC facilitates the ongoing
effectiveness and continued success of this system as well as the facilitation of near immediate
agency-to-agency communication and information sharing between state and local partners on all
DCF missing child cases. This benefit is particularly valuable with those cases involving the
most serious danger for the children and urgency required to insure a safe recovery.12
Collection of Information Related to Children in Out-of-home Care
Federal legislation enacted in 1993 supports states in planning, designing, developing, and
implementing a Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) system.
SACWIS is a comprehensive, automated case management system that helps social workers
manage foster care and adoption cases. All states and the District of Columbia collect data on
9
The Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse (MEPIC) is the central repository of information regarding
missing endangered persons in Florida. MEPIC assists law enforcement agencies and Florida's citizens in finding missing
persons by providing analytical services and engaging the public in the search. As part of these services, MEPIC has worked
with partner agencies to develop the Florida AMBER Plan and Florida Silver Alert Plan. Under these plans, MEPIC is
responsible for issuing all AMBER Alerts, Missing Child Alerts and State Silver Alerts in Florida, available at:
https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/mcicsearch/ , (last visited March 13, 2021).
10
Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 2021 FDLE Legislative Bill Analysis SB 1582, p. 4, March 10, 2021 (on file with
the Senate Committee on Children, Families and Elder Affairs).
11
Id.
12
Id.
BILL: SB 1582 Page 5
their child welfare cases and activities for entry into a statewide automated system that provides
reports for a variety of uses.13
The Children’s Bureau requires states to include 66 data elements, including demographic
information on the child’s race, age, gender, and date of entry into care. The SACWIS includes
case-related information, such as the reason identified for removing the child and placing him or
her into foster care, service goals, number of placements, and availability for adoption. States
may include other data elements to meet their needs, including elements that help caseworkers
manage their caseloads within the structure of the State child welfare system. States use their
SACWIS data to create management and outcome reports.14
The DCF’s Florida Safe Families Network (FSFN) is the state’s SACWIS.15 FSFN serves as the
statewide electronic case record for all child abuse investigations and case management activities
in Florida. The amount of data entered into FSFN is extensive and if fully utilized can provide
infinite details on the whereabouts and safety of children in out-of-home care.16
III. Effect of Proposed Changes:
There is currently no task force on the monitoring of children in out-of-home care. The task force
created by this bill has two purposes:
To develop a statewide system for collecting information on, and monitoring the
whereabouts and safety of, children in out-of-home care.
To develop statewide uniform guidelines, standards, and protocols to effectively respond
when a child in out-of-home care is missing.17
The bill creates s. 39.4092, F.S., establishing a Task Force on the Monitoring of Children in Out-
of-Home care within the DCF. The task force is to be composed of 15 members. Five members
shall be appointed by the Governor, five members shall be appointed by the President of the
Senate, and five members shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The task force shall be composed of representatives from the Department of Children and
Families, the Department of Law Enforcement, the Guardian Ad Litem Program, Safe Kids
Florida within the Department of Health, community-based care lead agencies, and Child
Protection Teams.
The bill provides that a vacancy on the task force will be filled in the same manner as the
original appointment. The task force is required to annually elect a chair from among its
members. The task force must meet as is necessary in order to complete its task and the task
force may conduct its meetings through teleconferences or other similar electronic means.
13
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and Administration
for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau, Introduction to Cross-System
Data Sources in Child Welfare, Alcohol and Other Drug Services, and Courts, HHS Publication No. SMA-11-4630, 2011,
available at https://ncsacw.samhsa.gov/files/DataPrimer_508.pdf (last visited March 12, 2021).
14
Id.
15
65C-38.001, F.A.C.
16
See, for example, A Data Study of Foster Children who Refused Placement in Hillsborough County, R. Latham.
University of Miami School of Law, Children and Youth Law Clinic, available at
https://miami.app.box.com/s/tyjphh6uhvutn4wbu5klo2hkvv9dodi5 (last visited March 12, 2021).
17
As described above, some of these purposes are covered with existing provisions of current law.
BILL: SB 1582 Page 6
Members of the task force are not entitled to receive reimbursement for per diem or travel
expenses.
The task force is tasked with developing a statewide system for collecting information and
monitoring the whereabouts and safety of, children in out-of-home care, and shall explore ways
to improve technology, training, communication and cooperation among the child welfare
system to improve the care of such children and to identify children who are at risk for being
lost. The task force must also develop statewide uniform guidelines, standards