Definitions,Admission and Planning

 

DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Family Safety and Preservation Program

RULE NO.: RULE TITLE:

65C-14.001 Definitions

65C-14.040 Admission and Planning

NOTICE OF CHANGE

Notice is hereby given that the following changes have been made to the proposed rule in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., published in Vol. 41 No. 226, November 20, 2015 issue of the Florida Administrative Register.

65C-14.001 Definitions

(1) No change.

(2) “Gender,” “sex,” or “gender identity” means a person’s internal identification or self-image

as male or female. Gender identity may or may not correspond to the gender assigned to a person at birth that is listed on the person’s birth certificate. The terms “male,” “female,” or “nonbinary” describe how a person identifies.

(3) through (4) No change.

(5) “Sexual orientation” means a person’s emotional or physical, romantic, or sexual attraction to members of the same gender, a different gender, or any gender, e.g., homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality.

(6) “Transgender” means having a gender identity that is different than the person’s gender listed on the person’s birth certificate assigned at birth.

(7) through (8) No change.

 

65C-14.040 Admission, Placement, and Ongoing Services

(1) The child-caring agency shall have written admission procedures which:

(a) No change.

(b) List the materials and forms required from the parent or guardian, child-placing agency, and child; and

(c) Outline preplacement procedures for the child, the child’s parent or guardian, the child-caring or child-placing agency and the Department; and

(c)(d) No change.

(2) The child-caring agency shall have written preplacement procedures which include a consideration the needs of all children in the facility and professional staff expertise.

(3) All written admission and preplacement procedures shall be made available to the child, the child’s parent or guardian, the child-caring or child-placing agency and the Department.

(4)(2) The admission of each child in the care and custody of the Department to a residential child-caring agency shall follow completion of a pre-admission study completed by the child-placing agency, and shall include the following:

(a) No change.

(b) A determination that the child-caring agency proposed for placement can meet the child’s needs without negitively impacting the other children within the same facility or disrupting service milleue. 

(b) through (d) are renumbered (c) through (e)

(f)(e) For transgender youth, a determination whether the youth should be placed with their gender listed on the their birth certificate assigned at birth or their identified gender.  Factors to be considered shall include:

1. through 7. No change.

(5)(3) No child shall be denied services by placement in any child- placing child-caring agency facility based on race, religion, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, or transgenderism. A child-placing agency has the obligation to place each child in the most suitable setting according to that child’s individual needs, taking into account the capacity of the placement to meet the child’s needs, and the needs of the other children already placed in that setting. 

(4) through (24) renumbered (6) through (26) No change.