'Cassie Carli' law aims to create 'safe exchanges' in custody cases – Orlando Sentinel

TALLAHASSEE – The Florida House of Representatives is advancing a bill that would allow courts to require certain parents who share custody of their children to use “secure exchange locations” to drop off their children at county sheriff's offices.

The measure (HB 385) is called the “Cassie Carli Law,” after a mother who disappeared in 2022 — and was later found dead — after meeting with the father of her child in northwest Florida to dispute custody exchange.

The House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Monday to approve the bill, which was sponsored by Maj. Roman Jackson of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office.

“On March 28, 2022, our community was shocked by the disappearance of Cassie Carli, a young, vibrant mother who was scheduled to meet the father of her child on Navarre Beach the day before. “Cassie disappeared and the subsequent investigation took our investigators over 1,500 miles across three states before discovering her lifeless body in a shallow grave in Spring Hill, Alabama,” Jackson told the House panel.

Charges are being filed against the child's father in the case.

Under the proposal, courts could include a requirement that exchanges of children in cases where custody is shared take place at a “neutral safe exchange location” as part of court-ordered parenting plans.

An exchange at the sites could be required if there is “substantial evidence that there is a risk or imminent risk of harm to a party or the child,” the bill states.

County sheriffs would be required to designate at least one parking lot at sheriff's offices or substations to serve as safe exchange locations. Sites would be required to have purple lights or signs in parking lots to identify designated areas. The sites would also need to be accessible 24 hours a day, have adequate lighting and continuous video surveillance.

The bill is ready to be presented to the plenary session. According to a December Florida Bar News story, it received support from the Florida Bar's Family Law Section, which helped draft the legislation.

Attorney Anya Stern, who spoke to the House panel on behalf of the Family Law Division, said many exchanges in “high-conflict cases” take place in public parking lots such as grocery stores and drug stores.

“But they don’t have the responsibility to make sure it’s always well lit and that there’s always CCTV. But this bill does just that,” Stern said.