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| Community Budget Issue Requests - Tracking Id #930 |
| Enhanced Statewide Child Protection Team Funding |
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| Requester: |
M. Richard Lewis, Esq. Chairperson |
Organization: |
Community Advisory Committee of the First Coast Child Protection Team |
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| Project Title: |
Enhanced Statewide Child Protection Team Funding |
Date Submitted |
12/27/2007 3:02:08 PM |
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| Sponsors: |
Wise |
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| Statewide Interest: |
| The Department of Health (�DOH�) is required by Florida Statutes �39.303 to provide a statewide system of medically led, multidisciplinary Child Protection Teams (�CPTs�). CPTs support the protective supervision activities of the Department of Children and Family Services (�DCF�) by, among other activities: (i) providing medical, psychological and psychiatric diagnoses and evaluations to identify child abuse, abandonment or neglect; (ii) staffing cases and developing treatment plans for abused, abandoned or neglected children; (iii) serving as expert witnesses in prosecutions involving child abuse, abandonment or neglect; and (iv) training DOH and DCF employees to develop and maintain their professional skills identifying and serving children at risk. While the State of Florida has increased funding for child welfare services generally, CPT funding has remained level for the past seven (7) years. In the meantime, the definition of childhood sexual abuse has been legislatively broadened to include cases that do not necessarily involve penetration (e.g., all inappropriate physical contact, child pornography, cybercrimes). General awareness of childhood abuse, abandonment and neglect has increased, leading to heightened public concern and reporting of suspected cases. The state�s population has grown, yielding proportional growth in the number of reported cases of child abuse, abandonment and neglect. All of these factors have increased referral numbers to the CPTs without corresponding compensatory financial resources. Additional funding is essential to meet these additional demands. The legislature needs to ensure that the pediatric specialists, nurses, psychologists and forensic investigators dedicated to the twenty-two (22) CPTs located throughout the state continue to receive the financial support necessary to sustain the direct, medically led, multidisciplinary services required by statute to help children in Florida who are at risk for physical and/or sexual abuse. |
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| Recipient: |
Children's Medical Services - Department of Health |
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Contact: |
M. Richard Lewis, Esq., or Charmaine T.M. Chiu, Esq. |
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4052 Bald Cypress Way, BIN #A06 |
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Contact Phone: |
(904) 359-7700 |
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Tallahassee 32399-1707 |
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Contact email: |
cchiu@smithhulsey.com |
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| Counties: |
{Statewide} |
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| Gov't Entity: |
Yes |
Private Organization (Profit/Not for Profit): |
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| Project Description: |
| CPTs are mandated by law, Florida Statutes �39.303, to provide multidisciplinary evaluation and assessment services to all children meeting referral criteria for abuse, abandonment or neglect. As noted above, CPTs support the protective supervision activities of DCF by, among other activities: (i) providing medical, psychological and psychiatric diagnoses and evaluations to identify child abuse, abandonment or neglect; (ii) staffing cases and developing treatment plans for abused, abandoned or neglected children; (iii) serving as expert witnesses in prosecutions involving child abuse, abandonment or neglect; and (iv) training DOH and DCF employees to develop and maintain their professional skills identifying and serving children at risk. In 2006, the state�s twenty-two (22) CPTs served 26,580 children; this represented a 5% increase in cases over the past three (3) years. The requested funding increase will allow the CPTs to serve an additional 3,500 children at a service level required by statute. It is estimated that CPTs statewide will serve approximately 30,000 children over the next year; the increased demand for services is attributable to natural population growth, heightened awareness and reporting of suspected cases of abuse, abandonment and neglect, and broadened definitions of sexual abuse. Current funding for CPTs is not sufficient to serve the projected number of clients at the level of statutorily mandated multidisciplinary services. The state�s twenty-two (22) CPTs are already stretched in their ability to provide statutorily required services at current funding levels, and without increased funding will be even more stretched to provide such services. |
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| Is this a project related to a federal or state declared disaster? |
No |
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| Measurable Outcome Anticipated: |
| (1) Serve 30,000 children by CPTs statewide during 2007-2008, representing a significant increase from the 26,580 children served by CPTs during 2006-2007; (2) Expand services to serve all alleged child sexual abuse victims per new legislative mandate (i.e., not only those cases involving penetration, but also all alleged instances of inappropriate physical contact, child pornography and cybercrimes); (3) Decrease staff vacancy rates in all CPTs, some of which are as high as sixty percent (60%); (4) Decrease staff turnover rates in all CPTs, some of which are as high as forty percent (40%); (5) Increase use of telemedicine to better serve children in rural, sparsely populated areas of Florida, and to provide increased availability of CPT support in cases of emergency; (6) Ensure availability of necessary technology, equipment and supplies to CPTs in order to identify and thoroughly document cases of childhood abuse, abandonment and neglect (e.g., digital cameras, photographic supplies, medical transcription software), thus also supporting law enforcement and state attorneys in their prosecution of cases; and (7) Increase training by CPTs of DOH and DCF staff in issues of childhood abuse, abandonment and neglect, so as to keep all agencies current and informed. |
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| Amount requested from the State for this project this year: |
$3,600,000 |
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| Total cost of the project: |
$21,252,314 |
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| Request has been made to fund: |
Operations |
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| What type of match exists for this project? |
Local, Private |
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Cash Amount |
$200,000 |
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In-kind Amount |
$650,000 |
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| Was this project previously funded by the state? |
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Yes |
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Fiscal Year: |
2006-2007 |
Amount: |
$17,632,314 |
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| Is future-year funding likely to be requested? |
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Yes |
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Amount: |
$1,062,616 |
To Fund: |
Operations |
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| Was this project included in an Agency's Budget Request? |
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Yes |
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Agency |
Health, Department Of |
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| Was this project included in the Governor's Recommended Budget? |
Unknown |
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| Is there a documented need for this project? |
Yes |
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Documentation: |
priority item #3 out of 25 in the requests submitted by the Children's Medical Services Prog to DOH |
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| Was this project request heard before a publicly noticed meeting of a body of elected officials (municipal, county, or state)? |
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Yes |
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Hearing Body: |
Duval County Legislative Delegation |
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| Is this a water project as described in Section 403.885, Laws of Florida? |
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No |
