Stephanie Sifrit is on a mission to persuade the Florida Legislature to require nursing homes and assisted-living facilities to allow residents to install video monitoring devices in their rooms.
Sifrit and her husband Tom appeared before the Manatee County legislative delegation on Monday to make their case in advance of the next regular legislative session, slated to start Jan. 13.
Stephanie Sifrit placed her mother in a Bradenton facility in February 2021 due to her severe dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Sifrit says that on three separate occasions she asked the nursing home administrator for permission to install a recording device in her mother’s room but was told no. The administrator, she said, denied her request because of privacy concerns for the long term care staff who care for the residents.
The Sifrits allege Stephanie’s mother was sexually assaulted at the facility on or about March 4, 2021, approximately two-and-a-half weeks after she entered the facility.
After the alleged incident, the Sifrits filed a lawsuit in 2023 claiming negligence and a breach of fiduciary duty, but the case was ultimately dismissed after the company declared bankruptcy in 2024.
Stephanie Sifrit told the Phoenix she also filed a complaint regarding the incident with the state Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), but was told by the agency the allegation wouldn’t be investigated. AHCA did not immediately respond to the Phoenix’s request for comment.
“I implore you to hear my request, to my plea, and now my cry, which is on behalf of thousands of vulnerable citizens who are in their difficult end-of-life journeys and cannot self-protect, self-defend, nor self-advocate,” Sifrit told the panel of Republican legislators, including Senate President Designate Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton.
Sifrit, a high school teacher, has created a website highlighting the issue and along with her husband has been calling on state legislators to enact laws permitting families to place cameras in their loved one’s rooms. Approximately 20 other states allow for the use of so-called “granny cams.”
“I’m here to ask you to please fight for the patient,” Sifrit added to the lawmakers on Monday. “Currently in the state of Florida, the [nursing] home can say, ‘No, no cameras here.’ And you can be evicted or they can retaliate. Please sirs, please represent my voice in Tallahassee. I am your constituent, and I am advocating for vulnerable people.”
The Sifrit’s story of abuse may not be unique.
The Tampa Bay Times reported in 2023 that nursing homes were cited 83 times in 2022 for putting older adult residents at risk of immediate danger. Between 2019 and 2022, the paper reported, the number of serious allegations levied against nursing homes with the state were double the amount for the previous six years.
Legislation hasn’t moved
Florida legislators have filed bills over the past several years addressing the issue, with little success. During the 2025 regular legislative session, a “granny cam” bill was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Ileana Garcia, R-Miami, and in the House by Rep. Susan Plasencia, R-Orlando.
Mrs. Sifrit testified on behalf of Plasencia’s bill earlier this when it was considered by the House Health Care Facilities & Systems Subcommittee. Representatives from the Florida Health Care Association, the Florida Senior Living Association, and the Florida Assisted Living Association all spoke out against the measure.
Senate Health Policy Committee Chair Sen. Colleen Burton, R-Winter Haven, never brought the companion bill up in committee for consideration and ultimately the legislation failed.
Tom Sifrit says that he and his wife have heard “a lot of reasons” from lawmakers and officials in the long term care industry who have resisted such legislation, including privacy concerns for the other residents and their visitors as well as the long term care staff who care for the residents.
And while some of those concerns have merit, Sifrit told the Manatee County delegation members, resident safety is more important.
“I want you to imagine that it’s your mother. It’s your wife. How many of these reasons would matter?” he asked.
Industry opposition
There are differences between nursing homes and assisted living facilities (ALFs).
An ALF provides personal care services in the least restrictive environment. ALF residents must be able to move independently or with the help of devices like walkers or wheelchairs. Nursing homes treat more frail residents and provide nursing care, case management, and health monitoring, as well as personal care.
There are more than 3,000 ALFs in Florida, and close to 700 nursing homes in the state, according to the USF School of Aging Studies.
As of Wednesday evening no bills authorizing the use of granny cams had been filed for the upcoming 2026 session.
Bijou Ikli, the CEO of the Florida Assisted Living Association, said many of its member facilities already allow cameras to be installed. It’s a facility by facility decision.
“Not all ALFs are equipped to do this effectively,” she told the Phoenix in an email this week. “Unlike skilled nursing facilities, residents in assisted living communities are generally more independent and mobile.”
She adds that individuals and families have choices when it comes to placing their family and friends into ALFs. If placement decisions are based on whether cameras are permitted, “individuals can choose a community that allows them,” Ikli said.
“I would not oppose legislation that requires ALFs to make public their policy on cameras and audio recordings in resident rooms to help consumers make informed choices and perhaps establishes reasonable parameters for their use to protect the dignity of residents, visitors, staff, and other health care professionals involved.”
The Florida Health Care Administration (FHCA) is the state’s largest nursing home association in the state. A spokesperson said the FHCA is waiting to see any legislation before taking a position.
However the group opposed the legislation in 2025. In testimony before the House Health Care Facilities & Systems Subcommittee earlier this year FHCA representative Jen Lawrence said “at this time we would like to cast our vote in opposition.”
FHCA Senior Director of Strategy & Communications Kristen Knapp says the use of surveillance cameras carries several challenges, and that “it’s important to remember that cameras observe, they do not protect.”
Knapp said that cameras would “provide access to footage of residents in their most intimate moments” including bathing and using the restroom and could reveal conversations with physicians. She added it could also be “complicated” when there are roommates involved and lead to potential violations of federal health privacy laws.
“We recognize that technology continues to evolve, but it’s important to balance the growing digital dependence with the expectations that our residents have for privacy and independence,” Knapp told the Phoenix in an email.
The Sifrits have championed granny cam legislation for the last several years but in that time Stephanie Sifrit has become less optimistic of its passage.
She shared in a phone interview with the Phoenix this week that one member of the Bradenton City Council told her she was trying to “move a mountain.”
Sifrit replied, “I know I’m trying to move a mountain, to protect people from being raped, neglected, and abused.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
