65E-9.012. Rights of Children

(1) The provider shall protect children’s rights under the federal and state constitutions and as specified in Sections 394.459 and 394.4615, F.S. The provider shall also ensure that:

(a) Physical punishment and treatment modalities that place the child at risk of physical injury or pain or death, including electroconvulsive or other convulsive therapy, “cocoon therapy,” or other hazardous procedures shall never be used.

(b) Children shall not be subjected to cruel, severe, unusual or unnecessary punishment or assigned excessive exercise or work duties, nor shall they be subjected to physical or mental abuse or corporal punishment.

(c) The simultaneous use of seclusion and mechanical restraint is prohibited.

(d) Children shall not be subjected to hazing, verbal abuse, coercion or remarks that ridicule them, their families or others.

(e) Children shall not be denied food, water, clothing, or medical care.

(f) Children shall not be exploited or required to make public statements to acknowledge gratitude to the provider program or perform at public gatherings.

(g) Identifiable pictures of children shall not be used without prior written consent of the parent or guardian. The signed consent form for any such usage shall be event-specific, indicate how the pictures will be used, and placed in the child’s clinical record.

(2) Discipline. The provider shall have and implement written procedures on an ongoing basis regarding methods used for the discipline of children. The procedures shall include identification of staff authorized and trained to impose discipline, staff training requirements, methodology, monitoring, incident reporting, and quality improvement.

(3) Child abuse and neglect.

(a) The provider, as a mandated reporter, shall report to the department and the Abuse Registry all suspected cases of child abuse, neglect, and exploitation in accordance with Chapter 39 and Section 394.459, F.S.

(b) Each child shall have ready access to a telephone in order to report an alleged abuse, neglect or exploitation. The provider shall inform each child verbally and in writing of the procedure for reporting abuse. A written copy of that procedure, including the telephone number of the abuse hotline and reporting forms, shall be posted in plain view within eighteen inches of the telephone(s) designated for use by the children.

(c) The provider shall establish and implement a written procedure for the immediate protection of the alleged victim or any other potential victim and prevention of a recurrence of the alleged incident pending investigation by the department or law enforcement.

(d) The provider shall require each paid and volunteer staff member, upon hiring and every 12 months thereafter, to read and sign a statement summarizing the child abuse and neglect laws and outlining the staff member’s responsibility to report all incidents of child abuse and neglect. Such signed statements shall be placed in each employee’s personnel file.

(e) Residents’ rights posters, including those with the telephone numbers for the Florida Abuse Hotline, Statewide Advocacy Council and the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, shall be legible, a minimum of 14 point font size, and shall be posted immediately next to telephones which are available for residents’ use.

(4) Confidentiality related to HIV-infected children. The provider shall protect the confidentiality of HIV-infected children as specified in Section 381.004, F.S. The provider shall also ensure that:

(a) The identity of any child upon whom an HIV test is performed and the child’s HIV test result shall be disclosed to an employee of the department or child-caring or child-placing organization directly involved in the placement, care or custody of such child only when the employee or organization needs to know such information to provide:

1. Case-specific services, such as assessing needs, determining eligibility, arranging care, monitoring case activities, permanency planning or providing care for the child;

2. Case-specific supervision or monitoring of cases for eligibility or legal compliance or casework services; or

3. Case-specific clerical and vouchering support.

(b) The identity of a child upon whom an HIV test is performed shall be disclosed to a foster family or child-caring or child-placing organization licensed pursuant to Florida Statutes, which is directly involved in the care of such child and has a need to know such information. The identity of the child shall be disclosed only after the following conditions have been met:

1. The department or child-placing or child-caring organization has provided to the foster family or child-caring or child-placing organization all available information, including HIV test results, social information and special needs, in a manner that does not permit identification of the child; and

2. The prospective placement has agreed to accept the child and the decision to place the child in that specific placement has been confirmed.

(c) The child’s record shall contain documentation of the date and time that the written statement was given to the child-caring, child-placing organization or to the foster or adoptive parents.

(d) The case files of HIV-infected children shall not be segregated or flagged in any way that would permit their identification as case files of HIV-infected children or in any way different from the files of non-HIV-infected children.

Specific Authority 394.875(8) FS. Law Implemented 394.875 FS. History–New 7-25-06, Amended 9-24-08.