Nursing home employees must pass a background check before they can work. But other caregivers can be on the job before the screening results come back, a process that can take months.

“All this time these people are working,” said Sandy Pillar, who tracks screenings at the state Department of Children and Families. “We’ve had people working in child care who were pedophiles.”

In West Palm Beach, an employee worked for two months at a YMCA skate park before a background check revealed he was facing child sex charges in California. Last October, a baby suffered severe burns at a Fort Lauderdale area day care while under the watch of a woman on felony probation who was working without a back...

Nursing home employees must pass a background check before they can work. But other caregivers can be on the job before the screening results come back, a process that can take months.

“All this time these people are working,” said Sandy Pillar, who tracks screenings at the state Department of Children and Families. “We’ve had people working in child care who were pedophiles.”

In West Palm Beach, an employee worked for two months at a YMCA skate park before a background check revealed he was facing child sex charges in California. Last October, a baby suffered severe burns at a Fort Lauderdale area day care while under the watch of a woman on felony probation who was working without a background check.

“We’ve got to do a much better job than what we’re currently doing,” said DCF Secretary George Sheldon. “We have a serious responsibility to protect kids.”

Under Florida law, it’s more difficult for felons to tend bar than to work in a day care center or nursing home. They must wait five years before they can serve drinks, but need wait only three years to get an exemption to work in child and adult care.

Two state agencies, DCF and the Agency for Health Care Administration, approve exemptions for caregivers. Little independent background investigation is done, and serious crimes on applicants’ records are missed.

Lucia Rivera had a record for aggravated assault when she won an exemption from AHCA in 2005. She got a job at a central Florida nursing home and last year was charged with stealing more than $36,000 from dozens of patient accounts.

“Most of those people were bedridden, comatose,” said Kathy Foust, a guardian for several victims.

Latoera O’Neal, an admitted cocaine dealer in Ohio, got an exemption from DCF to care for the disabled in 2004. Three years later, while working at a group home in Fort Walton Beach, O’Neal dragged a mentally disabled man out of a van by his feet, slamming his head on the floorboard and the pavement, an arrest report said. She now faces a charge of abusing a disab...

Lucia Rivera had a record for aggravated assault when she won an exemption from AHCA in 2005. She got a job at a central Florida nursing home and last year was charged with stealing more than $36,000 from dozens of patient accounts.

“Most of those people were bedridden, comatose,” said Kathy Foust, a guardian for several victims.

Latoera O’Neal, an admitted cocaine dealer in Ohio, got an exemption from DCF to care for the disabled in 2004. Three years later, while working at a group home in Fort Walton Beach, O’Neal dragged a mentally disabled man out of a van by his feet, slamming his head on the floorboard and the pavement, an arrest report said. She now faces a charge of abusing a disabled person.

State lawmakers are pledging to reform the exemption process based on the Sun Sentinel investigation. “It sounds like they’re being granted all too freely and that the exemption portion of (the law) needs a complete rewrite,” said state Rep. Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs.

Ocala grandfather Joseph Napoli says Florida needs to overhaul its background screening system. Four years ago, Napoli’s grandson, Nicholas Bradshaw, nearly died after being left in a sweltering van by a day care employee with a lengthy criminal record.

“We trust the lives of our children to them, and these people shouldn’t be around children,” Napoli said.