HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: CS/CS/CS/HB 1083 Permanency for Children
SPONSOR(S): Health & Human Services Committee, Appropriations Committee, Children, Families &
Seniors Subcommittee, Trabulsy and Abbott
TIED BILLS: IDEN./SIM. BILLS: CS/SB 1486
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY CHIEF
1) Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee 16 Y, 0 N, As CS DesRochers Brazzell
2) Appropriations Committee 27 Y, 0 N, As CS Fontaine Pridgeon
3) Health & Human Services Committee 19 Y, 0 N, As CS DesRochers Calamas
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
When child welfare necessitates that the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) remove a child
from the home, a series of dependency court proceedings must occur to adjudicate the child dependent, place
that child in out-of-home care, and achieve a permanency outcome for the child in the form of reunification, a
permanent guardian, adoption, or another permanent living arrangement. For young adults who have aged out
of foster care, extended foster care is available for a period of time or independent living programs are
available to help the young adult transition into adulthood.
CS/CS/CS/HB 1083 makes the adoption process more efficient and less costly while reducing barriers to
permanency. Additionally, the bill enhances protections for children from potentially unsafe placements and
expands financial assistance options for children who are adopted or placed in permanent guardianships as
younger teens.
The bill makes several changes to streamline permanency by creating a legal process for orphaned children,
requiring that a child knows the successor guardian, provides flexibility for service of process in termination of
parental rights advisory hearings, ensures safe and appropriate placements, and restricts access to the
statewide adoption exchange.
The bill shifts judicial review of DCF’s decision on an adoption application from a separate administrative
process to the dependency court. The bill requires a presiding judge to issue a court order to authorize the
payment of certain adoption fees, costs, and expenses that exceed certain statutory threshold amounts ,
including an explanation of why the payments are reasonable. The bill prohibits the placement of adoption-
related paid advertisements by non-adoption entities through certain mediums in Florida if the advertisements
lack the prerequisite licensing information. The bill also expands eligibility for adoption incentive awards and
increases the award amounts.
The bill identifies DCF as the state agency responsible for conducting fingerprint-based background checks of
out-of-home care household members when DCF arranges an emergency placement in out-of-home care for a
child. In this way, the bill positions the state to preserve DCF access to the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI)
criminal history records database.
The bill expands the criteria for Post-Secondary Education and Support (PESS), Aftercare, and Extended
Guardianship and Adoption Assistance Programs, to make it easier for young adults aged 18 to 23 who have
been in foster care system to receive benefits as they transition to independence.
The bill has a significant negative fiscal impact on DCF and no fiscal impact on local government.
The bill provides an effective date of July 1, 2024.
This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives .
STORAGE NAME: h1083d.HHS
DATE: 2/26/2024
FULL ANALYSIS
I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Background
Florida’s Child Welfare System
Chapter 39, F.S., creates the dependency system charged with protecting child welfare. The Florida
Legislature has declared four main purposes of the dependency system: 1
to provide for the care, safety, and protection of children in an environment that fosters healthy
social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development;
to ensure secure and safe custody;
to promote the health and well-being of all children under the state’s care; and
to prevent the occurrence of child abuse, neglect, and abandonment.
Florida’s dependency system identifies children and families in need of services through reports to the
central abuse hotline and child protective investigations. The Department of Children and Families
(DCF) works with those families to address the problems endangering children, if possible. DCF’s
practice model is based on the safety of the child within the home by using in-home services, such as
parenting coaching and counseling, to maintain and strengthen that child’s natural supports in his or
her environment. If the problems are not addressed, the child welfare system finds safe out-of-home
placements for these children.
DCF contracts with community-based care lead agencies (CBCs) for case management, out-of-home
services, and related services. The outsourced provision of child welfare services is intended to
increase local community ownership of service delivery and design. CBCs in turn contract with a
number of subcontractors for case management and direct care services to children and their families.
DCF remains responsible for a number of child welfare functions, including operating the central abuse
hotline, performing child protective investigations, and providing children’s legal services. 2 Ultimately,
DCF is responsible for program oversight and the overall performance of the child welfare system. 3
During state fiscal year (SFY) 2022-23, there were a total of 339,728 child abuse reports and child
special conditions contacts for potential child abuse and neglect, and 63% percent of those contacts
were screened in because they met criteria to trigger an investigation or assessment. 4
1 s. 39.001(1)(a), F.S.
2 OPPAGA, report 06-50.
3 Id.
4 Florida Department of Children and Families, Child Welfare Key Indicators Monthly Report Octob er 2023: A Results-Oriented
Accountab ility Report, Office of Child Welfare, p. 9 (Oct. 2023), https://www.myflfamilies.com/sites/default/files/2023-
11/KI_Monthly_Report_Oct2023.pdf (last visited Dec. 1, 2023).
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Also for SFY 2022-23, DCF’s permanency report describes Florida’s performance for three cohorts of
children who entered care (children in care less than 12 months; children in care 12-23 months; and
children in care 24 months or longer).5 As the chart below illustrates, Florida’s performance for each
cohort generally declined over the past several years, with state’s performance in achieving
permanency for children in care less than 12 months declining over 25%.6
Dependency Case Process
5 Florida Department of Children and Families, Results-Oriented Accountability 2023 Annual Performance Report, Office of Quality and
Innovation, p. 26, (Nov. 21, 2023), https://www.myflfamilies.com/sites/default/files/2023-
11/ROA%20Annual%20Performance%20Report%202022-23.pdf (last visited Dec. 1, 2023).
6 Id.
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When child welfare necessitates that DCF remove a child from the home, a series of dependency court
proceedings must occur to adjudicate the child dependent and place that child in out-of-home care.
Steps in the dependency process may include:
A report to the central abuse hotline.
A child protective investigation to determine the safety of the child.
The court finding the child dependent.
Case planning for the parents to address the problems resulting in their child’s dependency.
Placement in out-of-home care, if necessary.
Reunification with the child’s parent or another option to establish permanency, such as
adoption after termination of parental rights.7
The Dependency Court Process
Dependency Controlling
Description of Process
Proceeding Statute
A child protective investigation determines the child’s home is unsafe, and the
Removal s. 39.401, F.S.
child is removed.
Shelter A shelter hearing occurs within 24 hours after removal. The judge determines
s. 39.401, F.S.
Hearing whether to keep the child out-of-home.
Petition for A petition for dependency occurs within 21 days of the shelter hearing. This
s. 39.501, F.S.
Dependency petition seeks to find the child dependent.
An arraignment and shelter review occurs within 28 days of the shelter
Arraignment
hearing. This allows the parent to admit, deny, or consent to the allegations
Hearing and s. 39.506, F.S.
within the petition for dependency and allows the court to review any shelter
Shelter Review
placement.
Adjudicatory An adjudicatory trial is held within 30 days of arraignment. The judge
s. 39.507, F.S.
Trial determines whether a child is dependent during trial.
If the child is found dependent, disposition occurs within 15 days of
Disposition arraignment or 30 days of adjudication. The judge reviews the case plan and s. 39.506, F.S.
Hearing placement of the child. The judge orders the case plan for the family and the s. 39.521, F.S.
appropriate placement of the child.
The court may change temporary placement at a postdisposition hearing any
Postdisposition
time after disposition but before the child is residing in the permanent s. 39.522, F.S.
hearing
placement approved at a permanency hearing.
Judicial
The court must review the case plan and placement every 6 months, or upon
Review s. 39.701, F.S.
motion of a party.
Hearings
s. 39.802, F.S.
Once the child has been out-of-home for 12 months, if DCF determines that
Petition for s. 39.8055,
reunification is no longer a viable goal, termination of parental rights is in the
Termination of F.S.
best interest of the child, and other requirements are met, a petition for
Parental Rights s. 39.806, F.S.
termination of parental rights is filed.
s. 39.810, F.S.
This hearing is set as soon as possible after all parties have been served with
Advisory the petition for termination of parental rights. The hearing allows the parent to
s. 39.808, F.S.
Hearing admit, deny, or consent to the allegations within the petition for termination of
parental rights.
7 The state has a compelling interest in providing stable and permanent homes for adoptive children in a prompt manner, in preventing
the disruption of adoptive placements, and in holding parents accountable for meeting the needs of children. S. 63 .022, F.S.
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Adjudicatory An adjudicatory trial shall be set within 45 days after the advisory hearing. The
s. 39.809, F.S.
Hearing judge determines whether to terminate parental rights to the child at this trial.
The Florida Supreme Court’s Florida Rules of Juvenile Procedure control procedural matters for
Chapter 39 dependency proceedings unless otherwise provided by law. 8 DCF personally serves the
parent(s) with a physical copy of the petition of dependency. Service of process gives the opposing
party notice of the proceedings so that they may be given the opportunity to offer a defense. 9 Without
proper service of process, the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the opposing party. 10
However, under s. 39.502(2), F.S., a personal appearance by any person in a dependency hearing
before the court, such as an arraignment, excuses DCF from having to serve process on that person. 11
Effective October 1, 2022, the Florida Supreme Court amended the Florida Rules of Juvenile
Procedure to authorize personal appearances via audio-video communication technology in
dependency hearings.12 Therefore, in dependency proceedings, a personal appearance, whether in-
person or remote, waives the formal service of process.
However, these court amendments preserved the personal service requirement in hearings for the
termination of parental rights (TPR),13 and s. 39.801(3), F.S., still requires personal service upon a
parent in a TPR advisory hearing.14 Thus, even if a parent attends the TPR advisory hearing, the court
cannot conduct the hearing until DCF personally serves that parent. Previously, when TPR advisory
hearings were routinely held in person, this was resolved when DCF personally served the physically-
present parent with a physical copy of the petition in the courtroom. However, TPR advisory are now
routinely conducted remotely by audio-video communication technology. As a result, DCF staff are not
physically present with the parent to serve him or her, and DCF must request continuances from the
court until it can complete service by a formal process service—even if the parent is simultaneously
attending that TPR hearing remotely.
Permanency Placements
Approximately 59,000 children statewide receive child welfare services. Of those children, roughly 48
percent are in in-home care and 52 percent are in out-of-home care.15 While these children receive in-
home or out-of-home care, which are both temporary solutions by design, DCF develops a permanency
plan for each child. Current law specifies the following permanency goals, listed in order of preference:
Reunification with the child’s family;
Adoption, if a petition for termination of parental rights has been or will be filed;
Permanent guardianship under s. 39.6221, F.S.;
Permanent placement with a fit and willing relative under s. 39.6231, F.S.; or
Placement in another planned permanent living arrangement under s. 39.6241, F.S. 16
During SFY 2022-2023, 10,686 children exited out-of-home care. The table below shows the number
placement type.
Permanency Placements SFY 2022-202317
8 s. 39.013(1), F.S.; Fla. R. Juv. P. 8.000.
9 M.J.W. v. Fla. Dep’t of Children and Families, 825 So.2d 1038, 1041 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002).
10 Id.
11
s. 39.502(2), F.S.; Fla. R. Juv. P. 8225(a)(3)(C).
12 In re Amendments to Florida Rules of Juvenile Procedure, Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure, and Florida Supreme Court
Approved Family Law Forms, 356 So.3d 685, 686 (Fla. 2022).
13 Id. at Appendix, Rule 8.505. Process and Service.
14
s. 39.801(3)(b), F.S.
15 Supra, FN 4.
16 s. 39.621(3), F.S.
17 Office of Child Welfare Performance and Quality Improvement, Child Welfare Key Indicators Monthly Report, Octob er 2023, Florida
Department of Children and Families, (Oct. 2023) https://www.myflfamilies.com/sites/default/files/2023-
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Permanent Placement with a fit and
Reunification Adoption Permanent Guardianship willing relative or in another planned
permanent living arrangement
4,