LARGO, Fla. — Several Florida lawmakers say they plan to reintroduce legislation named after a 2-year-old Largo boy who police say was killed by his own mother.
On what would have been Jordan Belliveau's third birthday, State Reps. Chris Latvala; Ben Diamond; Jennifer Webb; State Sens. Darryl Rouson and Ed Hooper; and Dr. Jim Lewis announced Monday they plan to reintroduce "Jordan's Law."
The group said the bill is to protect children from abuse in Florida's child welfare system. They also have purchased domain name jordanslaw.com to bring attention to the bill.
Sources told 10Investigates in May the Florida Senate would not hear the bill after it passed the House because of "legal issues" with the way the bill was written.
State Rep. Chris Latvala, the bill’s original sponsor, said the Senate's refusal to consider the bill "BS." At the time Latvala said he believes senators didn't want to hear the bill and said multiple committees heard the legislation without raising concerns about wording.
If passed, Jordan's law would accomplish three things to better protect kids in the state's child welfare system:
- Reduce the caseload: The new law would slash caseloads from 30 to 15 per case manager.
- Better communication: Creating a system that cultivates shared data and information between law enforcement agencies and child welfare organizations will close the gap and streamline critical information about caregivers.
- More training: Florida would become the first state to have mandatory brain injury education for all child welfare professionals.
The training is for everyone from law enforcement to case managers, judges, attorneys and anyone else involved in the child welfare system. The training will be focused on the warning signs of head trauma, the very thing that led to Jordan's death.
Charisse Stinson, Jordan’s mother, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her son. She is set to go to trial on March 2, 2020.
Stinson is also charged with providing false information to a law enforcement agency during an investigation and aggravated child abuse.
Police said Stinson lied about Belliveau's disappearance in September 2018, which prompted an Amber Alert.
Largo Police Chief Jeffrey Undestad also spoke Monday with the lawmakers.
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