Title: Task Force on the Monitoring of Children in Out-of-Home Care

Summary: Creates Task Force on Monitoring of Children in Out-of-Home Care; provides for membership; requires task force to convene by specified date; authorizes task force to conduct meetings through teleconference or other electronic means; provides duties of task force; requires Florida Institute for Child Welfare to conduct focus groups & submit its findings to task force; requires DCF to submit certain monthly reports to task force; requires task force to submit report to Governor & Legislature; provides for repeal of task force.

Full Text:
An act relating to the Task Force on the Monitoring of Children in Out-of-Home Care; creating s. 39.4093, F.S.; creating the Task Force on the Monitoring of Children in Out-of-Home Care for specified purposes; requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to provide certain services; providing for membership by a specified date; requiring the task force to convene by a specified date; authorizing the task force to conduct meetings through teleconference or other electronic means; providing duties of the task force; requiring the Florida Institute for Child Welfare to conduct focus groups and submit its findings to the task force by a specified date; requiring the Department of Children and Families to submit certain monthly reports to the task force through a specified date; requiring the task force to submit a report to the Governor and Legislature by a specified date; providing for repeal of the task force unles sreviewed and saved by the Legislature; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Section 39.4093, Florida Statutes, is created HB 1011 2022 to read: 39.4093 Task Force on the Monitoring of Children i nOut-of-Home Care.-(1) CREATION.-The Task Force on the Monitoring of Children in Out-of-Home Care, a task force as defined in s. 20.03(8), is established within the Department of Law Enforcement. The Department of Law Enforcement shall provide administ rative and staff support services relating to the functions of the task force. (2) PURPOSE.-The purpose of the task force is to identify and counter the root causes of why children go missing while in out-of-home care and to ensure that prompt and effect ive action is taken to address such causes. The task force shall examine and recommend improvements to current policies, procedures, programs, and initiatives to prevent children from going missing while in out-of-home care and to ensure that timely and comprehensive steps are taken to find missing children who are missing for any reason, including, but not limited to, running away, human trafficking, and abduction by a parent or a person who does not have care or custody of the child. (3) MEMBERSHIP; MEE TINGS.-(a) The task force shall be composed of the following members: 1. A member of the Senate, appointed by the President of the Senate. HB 1011 2022 2. A member of the House of Representatives, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 3. The secretary, or his or her designee. 4. The Secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice, or his or her designee. 5. The executive director of the Statewide Guardian Ad Litem Office, or his or her designee. 6. The executive director of the Departm ent of Law Enforcement, or his or her designee. 7. A representative from Safe Kids Florida, appointed by the State Surgeon General. 8. A representative from the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking, appointed by the Attorney General. 9. A representative from a community-based care lead agency that delivers child welfare services in a county defined as rural by the most recent United States Census, appointed by the secretary. 10. A representative from a community-based care lead agency that delivers child welfare services in a county defined as urban by the most recent United States Census, appointed by the secretary. 11. A licensed foster parent, appointed by the secretary. 12. A representative from a residential group care provider, appointed by the secretary. 13. A young adult who aged out of the foster care system, HB 1011 2022 appointed by the secretary. (b) Appointments to the task force must be made by August 1, 2022. Each member shall serve at the pleasure of the official who appoin ted the member. A vacancy on the task force shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment. (c) The task force shall elect a chair from among its members. (d) The task force shall convene no later than September 1, 2022. The task force shall meet monthly or upon the call of the chair. The task force may hold its meetings through teleconference or other electronic means. (4) DUTIES.-The duties of the task force include all of the following: (a) Analyzing statistical data regarding chi ldren in out of-home care who are missing and the reasons why the children are missing, if known. (b) Identifying the root causes of why children go missing while in out-of-home care and how to prevent children from going missing while in out-of-home car e. (c) Assessing the relationship between children who go missing from out-of-home care and the risks of such children becoming victims of human trafficking. (d) Assessing the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of existing policies and procedures for preventing children in out of-home care from going missing, for promptly determining HB 1011 2022 whether such children are missing, and for locating such children. (e) Evaluating the state's approaches to reporting on the individual status of children missing from out-of-home care and the results of the efforts to locate such children, including, but not limited to, the use of technology, training, communication, and cooperation. (f) Measuring the overall performance of efforts to locate and recover children who ar emissing from out-of-home care, including, but not limited to, the communication and response between community-based care lead agencies, the department, and other entities. (g) Collaborating with the Florida Institute for Child Welfare to identify best practices used in other states for monitoring the location of children in out-of-home care who go missing, and evaluating whether such practices should be adopted in the state. (h) Submitting recommendations to improve policies, procedures, and systems in the state, including, but not limited to, technology, training, communication, and cooperation, so all entities are effectively monitoring children in out-of-home care, promptly responding when such children go missing, and preventing such children from going missing while in out-of-home care. (5) FOCUS GROUPS.-The Florida Institute for Child Welfare HB 1011 2022 shall conduct focus groups with children in out-of-home care and young adults who aged out of the foster care system to assist the task force in fulfillin gits duties. The focus groups must, at a minimum, consider the reasons why such children seek to leave their out-of-home placement, identify opportunities and resources to assist and prevent children from leaving their placements, and to facilitate the re turn of such missing children. The institute shall submit the findings from the focus groups to the task force by April 1, 2023. (6) REPORTS.-(a) Through October 1, 2023, the department shall provide monthly reports to the task force to assist the tas kforce in fulfilling its duties. The monthly reports must, at a minimum, address the number and percentage of children in out-of-home care who have been reported missing, the reasons why such children are missing if known, and the length of time between when such children are reported missing and their recovery or return. The monthly report must categorize the required data by age, county, community-based care lead agency, and reason, if known. (b) By October 1, 2023, the task force shall submit to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a report that compiles the findings and recommendations of the task force. (7) REPEAL.-This section is repealed June 30, 2024, unless HB 1011 2022 reviewed and saved from repeal by the Legislature. Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.