Common use of Mandated Reporting Clause in Contracts

Mandated Reporting. The Family Resource Center staff are, by law, mandated reporters, and as such will report a child’s disclosure of abuse or a suspicion of abuse to the Department of Children and Families. It is not the responsibility of the FRC staff to investigate the accuracy of the disclosure or suspicion. In developing the Family Resource Center’s gift-giving policy, for supervised parenting time, the following issues are considered: • The potential for manipulation of the child by the parent through gift-giving; • The potential for the gift to create a trigger that reminds the child of prior abuse; • The opportunity for the parent/visitor to use the gift as a means to communicate with the other parent, contrary to court order; • The socio-economic constraints of some parents, and the possible embarrassment a child may feel when seeing other children receive gifts at visits; • The potential for other families to feel as though they must compete with the gifts; • The need to treat all program participants fairly; • The fact that, in dependency out-of-home cases, parents are often encouraged to bring toys, clothes, food, etc. to visits with their child(ren); • The “normal” expectation of a child to receive a gift on or around his/her birthday, or certain holidays; • The degree to which (if at all), food brought to the visit is to be considered a gift; • The degree to which (if at all), money, gift cards, or items such as diapers and formula are to be considered gifts, when provided by the parent/visitor for the benefit, care, and/or maintenance of the child. The Family Resource Center permits gift-giving with the following minimum provisions: • For the safety of children and other individuals present at the supervised parenting time, all gifts brought for the child must be unwrapped or in a gift bag to allow for staff inspection prior to the visit; • Any items brought to the supervised parenting time session but not permitted in the visitation room will be secured and returned to the parent/visitor at the conclusion of the visit; • The Executive Director (or designated staff person) has the authority to prohibit the giving of a gift in any situation where it appears that the gift may be inappropriate, potentially harmful, or disturbing to the child or non-supervised parent. The gift giving policy also includes the following minimum provisions in cases involving allegations (or known issues) of domestic violence and/or sexual abuse: • FRC staff will require that the parent/visitor refrain from engaging in any discussions, activities or giving of gifts that are deemed inappropriate; • Electronic devices (i.e., radio, CD players, head phones, tape recorders, cell phones, cameras, MP3 players, etc.) are permitted in the supervised area only with the approval of the monitor. In making the case-by-case determination as to whether or not gift-giving is to be permitted, consideration will be given to the following: • Input from the non-supervised parent; • Information obtained from the dependency case manager (if applicable); • Information obtained at the intake; • Information from previous observations and supervised parenting time of the parent and child. All packages brought to the session will be checked by a staff member prior to the commencement of the supervised parenting time. Packages that are wrapped must be unwrapped and shown to staff.

Mandated Reporting. The Family Resource Center staff are, by law, mandated reporters, and as such will report a child’s disclosure of abuse or a suspicion of abuse to the Department of Children and Families. It is not the responsibility of the FRC staff to investigate the accuracy of the disclosure or suspicion. In developing the Family Resource Center’s gift-giving policy, for supervised parenting time, the following issues are have been considered: • The potential for manipulation of the child by the parent through gift-giving; • The potential for the gift to create a trigger that reminds the child of prior abuse; • The opportunity for the parent/visitor to use the gift as a means to communicate with the other parent, contrary to court order; • The socio-economic constraints of some parents, and the possible embarrassment a child may feel when seeing other children receive gifts at visits; • The potential for other families to feel as though they must compete with the gifts; • The need to treat all program participants fairly; • The fact that, in dependency out-of-home cases, parents are often encouraged to bring toys, clothes, food, etc. to visits with their child(ren); • The “normal” expectation of a child to receive a gift on or around his/her birthday, or certain holidays; • The degree to which (if at all), food brought to the visit is to be considered a gift; • The degree to which (if at all), money, gift cards, or items such as diapers and formula are to be considered gifts, when provided by the parent/visitor for the benefit, care, and/or maintenance of the child. The Family Resource Center permits gift-giving with the following minimum provisions: • For the safety of children and other individuals present at the supervised parenting time, all gifts brought for the child must be unwrapped or in a gift bag to allow for staff inspection prior to the visit; • Any items brought to the supervised parenting time session but not permitted in the visitation room will be secured and returned to the parent/visitor at the conclusion of the visit; • The Executive Director (or designated staff person) has the authority to prohibit the giving of a gift in any situation where it appears that the gift may be inappropriate, potentially harmful, or disturbing to the child or non-supervised parent. The gift giving policy also includes the following minimum provisions in cases involving allegations (or known issues) of domestic violence and/or sexual abuse: • FRC staff will require that the parent/visitor refrain from engaging in any discussions, activities or giving of gifts that are deemed inappropriate; • Electronic devices (i.e., radio, CD players, head phones, tape recorders, cell phones, cameras, MP3 players, etc.) are permitted in the supervised area only with the approval of the monitor. In making the case-by-case determination as to whether or not gift-giving is to be permitted, consideration will be given to the following: • Input from the non-supervised parent; • Information obtained from the dependency case manager (if applicable); • Information obtained at the intake; • Information from previous observations and supervised parenting time of the parent and child. All packages brought to the session will be checked by a staff member prior to the commencement of the supervised parenting time. Packages that are wrapped must be unwrapped and shown to staff. Cameras, cell phones, or recording devices of any kind may be used during the visit only with the knowledge and permission of the supervisor and with the knowledge of both parents. The non-supervised parent may not monitor the child’s time with the supervised parents through the use of any electronic or monitoring/tracking device.

Mandated Reporting. The Family Resource Center staff are, by law, mandated reporters, and as such will report a child’s disclosure of abuse or a suspicion of abuse to the Department of Children and Families. It is not the responsibility of the FRC staff to investigate the accuracy of the disclosure or suspicion. In developing the Family Resource Center’s gift-giving policy, for supervised parenting time, the following issues are have been considered: • The potential for manipulation of the child by the parent through gift-giving; • The potential for the gift to create a trigger that reminds the child of prior abuse; • The opportunity for the parent/visitor to use the gift as a means to communicate with the other parent, contrary to court order; • The socio-economic constraints of some parents, and the possible embarrassment a child may feel when seeing other children receive gifts at visits; • The potential for other families to feel as though they must compete with the gifts; • The need to treat all program participants fairly; • The fact that, in dependency out-of-home cases, parents are often encouraged to bring toys, clothes, food, etc. to visits with their child(ren); • The “normal” expectation of a child to receive a gift on or around his/her birthday, or certain holidays; • The degree to which (if at all), food brought to the visit is to be considered a gift; • The degree to which (if at all), money, gift cards, or items such as diapers and formula are to be considered gifts, when provided by the parent/visitor for the benefit, care, and/or maintenance of the child. The Family Resource Center permits gift-giving with the following minimum provisions: • For the safety of children and other individuals present at the supervised parenting time, all gifts brought for the child must be unwrapped or in a gift bag to allow for staff inspection prior to the visit; • Any items brought to the supervised parenting time session but not permitted in the visitation room will be secured and returned to the parent/visitor at the conclusion of the visit; • The Executive Director (or designated staff person) has the authority to prohibit the giving of a gift in any situation where it appears that the gift may be inappropriate, potentially harmful, or disturbing to the child or non-supervised parent. The gift giving policy also includes the following minimum provisions in cases involving allegations (or known issues) of domestic violence and/or sexual abuse: • FRC staff will require that the parent/visitor refrain from engaging in any discussions, activities or giving of gifts that are deemed inappropriate; • Electronic devices (i.e., radio, CD players, head phones, tape recorders, cell phones, cameras, MP3 players, etc.) are permitted in the supervised area only with the approval of the monitor. In making the case-by-case determination as to whether or not gift-giving is to be permitted, consideration will be given to the following: • Input from the non-supervised parent; • Information obtained from the dependency case manager (if applicable); • Information obtained at the intake; • Information from previous observations and supervised parenting time of the parent and child. All packages brought to the session will be checked by a staff member prior to the commencement of the supervised parenting time. Packages that are wrapped must be unwrapped and shown to staff. The supervisor Supervised Parenting Time Observation Checklist designed to track the supervised parent’s interactions and behaviors with the child(xxx) as well as for quality assurance purposes. All records are maintained by the Family Resource Center in individual case folders, according to the child’s name and secured in a locked file cabinet. Records are presented only with a court order and subject to rules of discovery regarding the confidentiality of records; refer to Florida Statute 415.51 regarding child abuse/neglect, when appropriate. Staff will produce the records, including video or audio tapes (if available) to the Court, upon request of the judge or a subpoena deuces tecum. Record Retention: Files are kept secured and confidential in accordance with regulatory privacy statutes and for the time period mandated by the State of Florida.