A provider in the Home Care for Disabled Adults Program shall meet, at minimum, the eligibility criteria outlined herein. Each provider shall:
    (1) Be a responsible adult willing to and capable of accepting responsibility for the social, physical, and emotional needs of the home care client in a family-type living arrangement;
    (2) Be an individual, relative or non-relative, who has a positive personal relationship with the home care client and who, if not family, is accepted by the home care client as surrogate family; or be a responsible adult who maintains a positive personal relationship with the home care client and is an individual with whom the home care client has made a financial arrangement for the provision of home care services;
    (3) Reside in and be physically present in the home to provide services, supervision, and assistance with the arrangement of services for the home care client, and be responsible for making alternative arrangements for care to be assumed by another responsible adult, when the provider is temporarily absent from the home, in keeping with the standards set forth for the Home Care for Disabled Adults Program;
    (4) Be responsible for maintaining the residential dwelling free of conditions that pose threat to the life, safety, health, or well-being of the home care client;
    (5) Grant written authorization for a background check, at least annually, through the department’s central abuse hotline information system for abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult, as defined in Florida Statutes § 415.102, or child, as defined in Florida Statutes § 39.01, and shall:
    (a) Be without record of criminal conviction of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult or child;
    (b) Not have been the perpetrator in a confirmed report of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult, investigated or completed prior to September 1, 2000 by the Department of Children and Families and maintained in the department’s central abuse hotline information system;
    (c) Not have been the perpetrator in a confirmed report of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a child, investigated or completed prior to October 1, 1995 by the Department of Children and Families and maintained in the department’s central abuse hotline information system;
    (d) Not have been a possible responsible person in a report with verified findings of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult, investigated or completed on or after September 1, 2000 by the Department of Children and Families and maintained in the department’s central abuse hotline information system;
    (e) Not have been a possible responsible person in a report with verified findings of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a child, investigated or completed on or after October 1, 1995 by the Department of Children and Families and maintained in the department’s central abuse hotline information system;
    (f) Provide written information on felony or first degree misdemeanor charges, as requested.
    (g) The department shall grant an exemption from any disqualifying offense if the department has clear and convincing evidence to justify the exemption; and
    (6) Be without evidence of representing themselves to the public as a home or home-type facility, group living home, half-way house, assisted living facility, adult family care home, or other similar facility offering room, board and personal services for pay or profit.
Specific Authority 410.033 FS. Law Implemented 410.033, 410.034 FS. History-New 5-3-81, Amended 2-11-82, Formerly 10A-9.06, Amended 6-11-91, Formerly 10A-9.006, Amended 8-13-00, 1-23-05.