According to Florida state law, residential children's homes that claim religious exemptions are not subject to state oversight.

And this leads to religiously affiliated children's home subjecting children to "punishment and isolation that verge on torture — so long as they quote chapter and verse to justify it," according to an investigative report by the Tampa Bay Times. The three-part report details allegations of abuse and neglect at "nearly a dozen" of more than 30 religious homes reporters investigated.

The paper reported that "state authorities have responded to at least 165 allegations of abuse and neglect in the past decade," and that some homes have lost their licenses but continued "to avoid state restrictions on corporal punishment."

In Florida, the Department of Children and Families is responsible for regulating and inspecting children's homes. However, homes that claim a religious exemption are regulated "by the Florida Association of Christian Child Caring Agencies, a private, nonprofit group run almost entirely by the same people who run the homes."

CT previously reported on "church childproofing" in the debate over religious childcare regulation in Indiana.