Florida Senate - 2011 (NP) SB 2074
By Senator Fasano
11-02084-11 20112074__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to Pinellas County; amending chapter
3 61-2681, Laws of Florida, as amended; redefining the
4 term “family day care home” and defining the term
5 “large family child care home”; revising and providing
6 requirements for licensing and regulating such homes;
7 providing an effective date.
8
9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11 Section 1. Subsection (5) of section 2 of chapter 61-2681,
12 Laws of Florida, as amended by chapters 70-893 and 2007-277,
13 Laws of Florida, is amended to read:
14 Section 2. Definitions; capacity and time limitations.—
15 (5)(a) A “family child care home” or “family day care home”
16 means an occupied a facility for child care in a place of
17 residence in which child care is regularly provided for children
18 from at least two unrelated households, with or without
19 compensation. A family child care home shall be allowed to
20 provide care for one of the following groups of children, which
21 shall include household preschool-aged children, whether present
22 or not, and household school-aged children under 13 years of
23 age, when on the premises of the family child care home or on a
24 field trip with children enrolled in care:
25 1. A maximum of six children, if no more than three of
26 those children are under 18 months of age.
27 2. A maximum of eight children, if no more than five of
28 those children are preschool aged, and of those five, no more
29 than three are under 18 months of age, and of those three, no
30 more than two are under 12 months of age of a family, person, or
31 persons who receive no more than four (4) children under
32 seventeen (17) years of age away from their own homes who are
33 not related to such person or persons by blood, marriage, or
34 adoption, for the purpose of providing family care and training
35 for such children. No more than three (3) of the four (4)
36 children may be under two (2) years of age. This term shall not
37 be construed to include children above first grade level except
38 in homes where children below first grade level are also
39 received for care.
40 (b) A “large family child care home” means a home that is
41 licensed under section 402.3131, Florida Statutes. A “large
42 family child care home” means an occupied residence in which
43 child care is regularly provided for children, with or without
44 compensation, from at least two unrelated households and which
45 has at least two full-time child care personnel on the premises
46 during the hours of operation. One of the two full-time child
47 care personnel must be the operator or the operator’s
48 substitute. A large family child care home must first have
49 operated as a licensed family child care home for 2 consecutive
50 years, with an operator who has had a child development
51 associate credential or its equivalent for 1 year, before
52 seeking licensure as a large family child care home. The 2
53 consecutive years of operation as a licensed family child care
54 home must have been in this state and within 5 years before the
55 date of application to operate a large family child care home. A
56 large family child care home shall be allowed to provide care
57 for one of the following groups of children, which shall include
58 those children under 13 years of age who are related to the
59 caregiver:
60 1. A maximum of eight children from birth to 24 months of
61 age.
62 2. A maximum of twelve children, with no more than four
63 children under 24 months of age.
64
65 A large family child care home must meet and comply with this
66 paragraph at all times unless there is an insufficient number of
67 children in care to meet the definition of a large family child
68 care home, in which case additional personnel are not required.
69 (c)(b) Child care may be provided for 24 hours or longer
70 for a child whose parent or legal guardian works a shift of 24
71 hours or more. The requirement that a parent or legal guardian
72 work a shift of 24 hours or more must be certified in writing by
73 the employer, and the written certification must be maintained
74 in the facility by the child care provider and made available to
75 the license board and the state child care licensing agency. The
76 time that a child remains in child care, however, may not exceed
77 72 consecutive hours in any 7-day period. During a declared
78 state of emergency, the license board or the state child care
79 licensing agency may temporarily waive the time limitations
80 provided in this paragraph.
81 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.