How often must the FDLE database check be done?

At least once a year, per Rule 65G-2.008(4)(c). There is no certificate and nothing renews, so nothing prompts it — which is why many providers have never done it.

Is it enough to run the search, or do I need records?

Records are required. The rule sets three obligations: run the search, notify staff of the locations, and document that notification. A search with no record of the staff briefing does not satisfy it.

Does Florida require an annual driving record check for group home staff?

Yes, for staff who transport residents. Rule 65G-2.008(4)(b)2. states that licensees must update their staff driving history on an annual basis. It is a rule, not a best practice.

Facility08/17/2026·4 min read

The Annual Rule Almost No Group Home Follows

65G-2.008(4)(c) requires you to search the FDLE database around each home every year, tell your staff, and document that you told them. There is no certificate and nothing renews — so nothing reminds you it exists.

Does a Florida group home have to check the sex offender registry?

Yes, at least once a year. Rule 65G-2.008(4)(c), F.A.C. requires every licensee to search the FDLE Sex Offender/Predator Database for registrants within one mile of the facility, notify staff where they live, and document that notification. All three parts are required.

Most compliance requirements announce themselves. A certificate expires, a card has a date on it, a renewal notice arrives. You feel them coming.

This one does not. It sits in the staffing rule under Safety Standards rather than under training, it produces no certificate, nothing renews, and no system anywhere prompts it. We only found it by reading Rule 65G-2.008 end to end.

What the rule says

"On at least an annual basis, all licensees must access the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Sex Offender/Predator Database for the purposes of identifying database registrants who reside within a one-mile radius of the facility. The licensee shall notify facility staff of the location of sexual offenders or predators who live within one mile of the facility and document such notification."

— Rule 65G-2.008(4)(c), F.A.C.

Read it carefully, because it is three obligations in one sentence, and doing the first without the other two does not satisfy it:

Search the FDLE database for registrants within one mile of the home.
Notify your staff where those people live.
Document that you notified them.

The third is the one that gets missed even by providers who do the first two. A search you ran and a conversation you had leave no record. At an inspection, no record means it did not happen.

Why it is worth doing beyond the rule

Set the compliance question aside for a moment. Your staff walk residents to the car, take them to the mailbox, and sit with them in the yard. Knowing who lives on the block is not paperwork. It is the kind of thing a good house manager would want to know regardless of whether anyone required it.

Doing it, and keeping the proof

Search the FDLE offender registry by address radius for each home, once a year. Same month each year is easiest to remember.
Save the search result — a dated PDF or screenshot showing the address and the date you ran it.
Brief your staff, and have them sign or acknowledge it. That acknowledgement is the documentation the rule asks for.
File all three together, per home, per year.

While you are in that rule, one more from the same subsection: 65G-2.008(4)(b)2. requires you to update your staff driving history annually. Not a best practice — the rule says licensees must. It is another one with no certificate and no renewal notice.

Care Wizard now tracks the annual FDLE check per home alongside your APD license, so it stops being something you have to remember on your own. The requirement itself, cited, is free to read at carewizard.ai/florida-apd-rules/65g-2.

Sources

Rule 65G-2.008(4)(c), F.A.C. — annual FDLE database check, staff notification and documentation (quoted verbatim above)
Rule 65G-2.008(4)(b)2., F.A.C. — annual update of staff driving history
F.A.C. Chapter 65G-2 rule index

This article is general information for Florida APD group-home providers, not legal advice or a guarantee of compliance. Rules change and vary by region — always confirm the current requirement with the cited source and your APD regional office.

The Annual Rule Almost No Group Home Follows

What the rule says

Why it is worth doing beyond the rule

Doing it, and keeping the proof

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