Gov. Crist Calls for Investigation into Caregiver Screening

Sandy Grinnell

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Kudos to the Sun Sentinel for bringing inadequate employment screening for daycare and senior care workers to light. Their in depth article has apparently caught the attention of Govenor Crist who has called for a statewide investigation.

Crist has asked the eight agencies involved in the screening to come up with recommendations by November 2 so that they can be addressed at the special session in December. The first focus may be electronic fingerprinting which should alleviate the current 8 week turn around.

According to the Governor,

"When it comes to the safety and security of Florida's vulnerable populations, we must make every effort to ensure that their professional caregivers do not have criminal histories," Crist said in a statement.

An earlier blog on this site discussed the problems with the current system in that background checks are only performed in Florida, not nationwide; facilities can allow employees to begin working prior to getting the results of the background check; and there is a lack of state inspection of employee files at most facilities.