A new state law now requires nursing homes to screen for sex offenders prior to admission.
Nursing homes must also develop a care plan to protect other residents and to provide a safe environment. The facilities are required to to notify residents and their sponsors of the sex offender's admission and provide them with a detailed description of their care plan.
Earlier this year, the Investigator Tom Meyer found 29 registered sex offenders living in 16 Northeast Ohio nursing homes. Loved ones had no idea that their family members were sharing living space with rapists and other individuals convicted of sex offenses.
Lawmakers encourage individuals to know the law and to ask questions about a facility's enforcement of the law.
3721.122 (Effective 9/15/2014) Screening and accommodations for sex offenders.
Before an individual is admitted as a resident to a home, the home's administrator shall search for the individual's name in the Internet-based sex offender and child-victim offender database established under division (A)(11) of section 2950.13 of the Revised Code. If the search results identify the individual as a sex offender and the individual is admitted as a resident to the home, the administrator shall provide for the home to do all of the following:
(A) Develop a plan of care to protect the other residents' rights to a safe environment and to be free from abuse;
(B) Notify all of the home's other residents and their sponsors that a sex offender has been admitted as a resident to the home and include in the notice a description of the plan of care developed under division (A) of this section;
(C) Direct the individual in updating the individual's address under section 2950.05 of the Revised Code and, if the individual is unable to do so without assistance, provide the assistance the individual needs to update the individual's address under that section.
A random check of local nursing homes found that several had no plan in place yet and others simply vowed to comply with the law.
Follow The Investigator Tom Meyer on Twitter: @TomMeyerWKYC
