Florida Senate - 2023 CS for CS for SB 1064
By the Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services;
the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and
Senator Yarborough
603-03755-23 20231064c2
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to children removed from caregivers;
3 amending s. 409.988, F.S.; requiring community-based
4 care lead agencies, by a certain date and in
5 coordination with the local managing entity, to
6 administer a certain trauma-focused screening within a
7 specified timeframe to children removed from certain
8 caregivers, for specified purposes; requiring a child
9 welfare professional administering a trauma screening
10 to request certain information; specifying
11 requirements for further evaluation or intervention,
12 if needed; requiring that, to the extent possible, any
13 evaluation or intervention be integrated into certain
14 treatment planning; providing that such evaluation or
15 intervention may not be considered an additional or
16 adjunct service or treatment; requiring community
17 based care lead agencies to offer voluntary trauma
18 focused screening and services under certain
19 circumstances; amending s. 409.996, F.S.; requiring
20 the Department of Children and Families to require in
21 its contracts with the community-based care lead
22 agencies that such agencies and managing entities
23 administer a trauma-focused screening within a
24 specified timeframe to children removed from certain
25 caregivers; conforming a cross-reference; providing an
26 effective date.
27
28 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
29
30 Section 1. Present paragraphs (b) through (n) of subsection
31 (1) of section 409.988, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as
32 paragraphs (c) through (o), respectively, and a new paragraph
33 (b) is added to that subsection, to read:
34 409.988 Community-based care lead agency duties; general
35 provisions.—
36 (1) DUTIES.—A lead agency:
37 (b)1. Shall, on or before July 1, 2024, in coordination
38 with the local managing entity, administer a validated trauma
39 focused screening to a child removed from his or her parent,
40 legal custodian, or caregiver to ensure that any acute trauma,
41 if present, is timely identified and that the child is promptly
42 referred to appropriate trauma services, including clinical
43 evaluation and intervention if needed. This trauma-focused
44 screening must occur as soon as practicable after the child’s
45 removal but no later than 14 days after the shelter hearing. A
46 child welfare professional administering a trauma screening
47 pursuant to this subparagraph shall request all relevant
48 information from the child protective investigator necessary to
49 complete the trauma screening. Any further evaluation or
50 intervention identified as necessary must address the impact of
51 trauma on the child, including any trauma related to adverse
52 experiences prior to removal, the event or events that
53 immediately precipitated removal, if applicable, and any trauma
54 related to the removal incident. To the extent possible, any
55 evaluation or intervention must be integrated into the child’s
56 overall mental and behavioral health treatment planning and may
57 not be considered an additional or adjunct service or treatment.
58 2. Shall offer voluntary trauma-focused screening and
59 appropriate trauma services to a child and his or her family in
60 the event that a shelter petition is denied and the child is
61 returned to his or her parent, legal custodian, or caregiver.
62 Section 2. Present paragraphs (b) through (f) of subsection
63 (1) of section 409.996, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as
64 paragraphs (c) through (g), respectively, a new paragraph (b) is
65 added to that subsection, and paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of
66 that section is amended, to read:
67 409.996 Duties of the Department of Children and Families.
68 The department shall contract for the delivery, administration,
69 or management of care for children in the child protection and
70 child welfare system. In doing so, the department retains
71 responsibility for the quality of contracted services and
72 programs and shall ensure that, at a minimum, services are
73 delivered in accordance with applicable federal and state
74 statutes and regulations and the performance standards and
75 metrics specified in the strategic plan created under s.
76 20.19(1).
77 (1) The department shall enter into contracts with lead
78 agencies for the performance of the duties by the lead agencies
79 established in s. 409.988. At a minimum, the contracts must do
80 all of the following:
81 (b) Require lead agencies and managing entities to
82 coordinate to administer a validated trauma-focused screening to
83 a child removed from his or her parent, legal custodian, or
84 caregiver to ensure that any trauma related to the child’s
85 removal is timely identified, if present, and that the child is
86 referred promptly to appropriate trauma services, including
87 clinical evaluation and intervention if needed, as required by
88 s. 409.988(1)(b).
89 (4)
90 (b) The department shall collect and publish on its
91 website, and update monthly, the information required under s.
92 409.988(1)(l) s. 409.988(1)(k).
93 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.