The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Fiscal Policy
BILL: CS/CS/SB 1486
INTRODUCER: Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services; Children, Families, and
Elder Affairs Committee; and Senator Collins
SUBJECT: Permanency for Children
DATE: February 26, 2024 REVISED:
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Rao Tuszynski CF Fav/CS
2. Sneed McKnight AHS Fav/CS
3. Rao Yeatman FP Favorable
Please see Section IX. for Additional Information:
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE - Substantial Changes
I. Summary:
CS/CS/SB 1486 makes numerous changes to chs. 39, 409, and 63, F.S., to reduce barriers in
dependency proceedings, ensure the safety of children in out-of-home care, increase the time to
permanency, and expand the financial opportunities to children in, or formerly in, the foster care
system and adoptive parents. Specifically, the bill:
Revises the process for background screening process for out-of-home placements.
Creates a process to commit a child to the legal custody of the Department of Children and
Families (DCF) to seek adoption for a child whose parents die while the child is in the
dependency system or who otherwise does not have a legal guardian to care for the child and
must rely on the DCF for services.
Creates an emergency modification of placement process to address child safety of children
in out-of-home care that is separate from a shelter hearing.
Reduces the number of months required to close a case to permanent guardianship and allow
a guardian to receive Guardianship Assistance Program (GAP) benefits from 6 to 3 months if
the caregiver was previously named as a successor guardian and is known to the child.
Reduces the child-age eligibility requirement for a guardian or adoptive parent to receive
GAP payments or adoption assistance payments.
Eliminates the requirement to personally serve a parent with a petition when the parent
appears at a termination of parental rights hearing, aligning statute with the dependency
hearing process.
BILL: CS/CS/SB 1486 Page 2
Shifts the judicial review of the DCF’s decision on adoption applications made to the DCF
under ch. 39, F.S., from a separate administrative process under ch. 120, F.S., to the judge
assigned to the dependency processing who has the most familiarity with the child and
family.
Removes the requirement for Community-based care (CBC) lead agencies to provide
adoption services and, instead, requires the DCF to contract with a child-placing agency to
provide such services.
Requires a court order with a written determination of reasonableness to approve or
disapprove the itemized fees, costs, and expenses in the required affidavit that exceed current
statutory caps.
Requires private adoption entities to report certain information to the DCF quarterly for each
finalized private adoption, including fees, costs, and expenses, and requires the DCF to make
the data available on its website.
Details what forms and mediums of advertisement for the current prohibition on specific
persons or entities that can place an adoption advertisement and clarifies that only a Florida
licensed adoption entity or attorney may place an adoption advertisement in the state.
Expands those who may participate in the adoption benefits program to include certain
healthcare practitioners and tax collector employees.
Repeals the adoption incentive program that awarded incentive payments to CBCs.
Expands independent living services for young adults aging out of foster care by decreasing
the eligibility age for Postsecondary Education Services and Supports and allowing young
adults to receive Aftercare if eligible for the extended GAP program or the extended adoption
assistance program but is not participating in either program.
The bill has an indeterminate, yet likely significant negative fiscal impact on state government
and the private sector. See Section V. Fiscal Impact Statement.
The bill takes effect July 1, 2024, except as otherwise expressly provided in the bill.
II. Present Situation:
An estimated 3.9 million referrals of alleged child abuse and neglect were made nationwide in
2021.1 Of that 3.9 million, approximately 2 million met the requirements for an investigation2
leading to approximately 588,000 children with a finding of maltreatment.3 More than 4.28
million children live in Florida, a vast majority of which, never come to the attention of Florida’s
child welfare system.4 In 2021, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) investigated
256,060 reports of potential child abuse, and approximately 11 percent (or 27,394) of those
investigations results in a finding of maltreatment.5
1
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau, Report on
Child Maltreatment 2021, p. 8, available at: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/cm2021.pdf (last
visited Jan. 14, 2024).
2
Id. at p. 13; referred to as “screened in referrals.”
3
Id. at 21; referred to as “victims of abuse and neglect.”
4
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau, Child
Population Data for Florida, available at https://cwoutcomes.acf.hhs.gov/cwodatasite/pdf/florida.html (last visited Jan. 14,
2024).
5
Id.
BILL: CS/CS/SB 1486 Page 3
The United States Congress appropriates federal funds through various grants to the DCF to
supplement state general revenue funds for the implementation of child welfare programs.6 The
DCF uses these funds to contract with local community non-profits to provide child welfare
services.7
The DCF uses a centralized child welfare information system known as Florida Safe Families
Network (FSFN) and is in the middle of a multi-year project to transition from old federal
guidelines that required a Statewide Automated Child Welfare System (SACWIS) to new federal
guidelines that require a Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS).8 This
transition will modernize and enhance the data capabilities of the DCF.
Florida’s Child Welfare System
Chapter 39, F.S., creates Florida’s dependency system charged with protecting children who
have been abused, neglected, or abandoned. Florida’s child welfare system identifies children
and families in need of services through reports to the central abuse hotline and child protective
investigations. The DCF and CBCs work with those families to address the problems
endangering children, if possible. If the problems cannot be addressed, the child welfare system
finds safe out-of-home placements for these children.9
Child welfare services are directed toward the prevention of child abuse, abandonment, and
neglect.10 The DCF practice model is based on the safety of the child within his or her home,
using in-home services, such as parenting coaching and counseling to maintain and strengthen
the child’s natural supports in the home environment.11 These services are coordinated by the
DCF-contracted community-based care lead agencies (CBCs).12 The DCF remains responsible
for a number of child welfare services, including operating the central abuse hotline, performing
child protective investigations, and providing children’s legal services.13 Ultimately, the DCF is
responsible for program oversight and the overall performance of the child welfare system.14
6
The main federal grant programs that supplement state-level child welfare programs are Titles IV-E and IV-B of the Social
Security Act.
7
Part V of Ch. 409, F.S.
8
The Children’s Bureau, CCWIS Status, available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/training-technical-assistance/ccwis-status
(last visited Jan. 14, 2024)
9
Chapter 39, F.S.
10
Section 39.001(8), F.S.
11
See generally: The Department of Children and Families, Florida’s Child Welfare Practice Model, available at:
https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/child-family/child-and-family-well-being/floridas-child-welfare-practice-model (last
visited Jan. 14, 2024).
12
Section 409.986(1), F.S.; See generally Department of Children and Families (DCF), About Community-Based Care,
available at https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/child-family/child-and-family-well-being/community-based-care/about-
community-based-care (last visited Jan. 14, 2024).
13
Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, Child Welfare System Performance Mixed in First
Year of Statewide Community-Based Care, Report 06-50, June 2006, available at
https://oppaga.fl.gov/Products/ReportDetail?rn=06-50 (last visited Jan. 14, 2024).
14
Id.
BILL: CS/CS/SB 1486 Page 4
Department of Children and Families
The DCF’s statutory mission is to work in partnership with local communities to protect the
vulnerable, promote strong and economically self-sufficient families, and advance personal and
family recovery and resiliency.15 The DCF must develop a strategic plan to fulfill this mission
and establish measurable goals, objectives, performance standards, and quality assurance
requirements to ensure the DCF is accountable to taxpayers.16
The DCF is required to provide services relating to17:
Adult protection.
Child care regulation.
Child welfare.
Domestic violence.
Economic self-sufficiency.
Homelessness.
Mental health.
Refugees.
Substance abuse.
The DCF must deliver services by contract through private providers to the extent allowed by
law and funding.18 These private providers include CBCs delivering child welfare services.19
Community-Based Care System
The DCF, through CBCs, administers a system of care20 to children and families that is required
to focus on:
Prevention of separation of children from their families;
Intervention to allow children to remain safely in their own homes;
Reunification of families who have had their children removed from their care;
Safety for children who are separated from their families;
Promoting the well-being of children through emphasis on educational stability and timely
health care;
Permanency, including providing adoption and postadoption services; and
Transition to independence and self-sufficiency.21
The CBCs must give priority to services that are evidence-based and trauma informed.22 The
CBCs contract with a number of subcontractors for case management and direct care services to
15
Section 20.19(1)(a), F.S.
16
Section 20.19(1)(b), F.S.
17
Section 20.19(4)(a), F.S.
18
Section 20.19(1)(d), F.S.
19
Part V of Ch. 409, F.S. and s. 394.9082, F.S.
20
Section 409.986(1), F.S.; See generally The Department of Children and Families (The DCF), About Community-Based
Care, available at https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/child-family/child-and-family-well-being/community-based-
care/about-community-based-care (last visited Jan. 14, 2024).
21
Id.; Also see generally s. 409.988, F.S.
22
Section 409.988(3), F.S.
BILL: CS/CS/SB 1486 Page 5
children and their families. There are 17 CBCs statewide, which together serve the state’s 20
judicial circuits.23
The Dependency System Process – Generally
When child welfare necessitates that the DCF remove a child from the home to ensure his or her
safety, a series of dependency court proceedings must occur to place that child in an out-of-home
placement, adjudicate the child dependent, and if necessary, terminate parental rights and free
that child for adoption. Steps in the dependency process usually include:
A report to the Florida 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.24
Dependency Controlling
Description of Process
Proceeding Statute(s)
The DCF may remove a child from his or her home after a
protective investigation determines that conditions in that
Removal s. 39.401, F.S.
child’s home are unsafe and a safety plan cannot make the
conditions safe.
The court must hold a shelter hearing within 24 hours after
removal. At this hearing, the judge determines whether there
Shelter Hearing s. 39.401, F.S.
was probable cause to remove the child and whether to keep
the child out-of-home.
The DCF must file a petition for dependency within 21 days
Petition for
of the shelter hearing. This petition seeks to find the child s. 39.501, F.S.
Dependency
dependent.
The court must hold an arraignment and shelter review within
Arraignment 28 days of the shelter hearing. The hearing allows the parent
Hearing and to admit, deny, or consent to the allegations within the s. 39.506, F.S.
Shelter Review petition for dependency and allows the court to review any
previous shelter placement.
The court must hold an adjudicatory trial within 30 days of
Adjudicatory
arraignment. The judge determines whether a child is s. 39.507, F.S.
Trial
dependent during this trial.
23
The DCF, Lead Agency Information, available at https://www.myflfamilies.com/services/child-family/child-and-family-
well-being/community-based-care/lead-agency-information (last visited Jan. 14, 2024).
24
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.
BILL: CS/CS/SB 1486 Page 6
Dependency Controlling
Description of Process
Proceeding Statute(s)
The court must hold a disposition hearing within 15 days of
arraignment (if the parents admits or consents to adjudication)
Disposition or 30 days of adjudication if a court finds the child dependent. s. 39.506, F.S.
Hearing At this hearing, the judge reviews the case plan and placement s. 39.521, F.S.
of the child and orders the case plan and the appropriate
placement of the child.
Postdisposition The court may change the temporary out-of-home placement
Change of of a child at a postdisposition hearing any time after
s. 39.522, F.S.
Custody disposition but before the child is residing in the permanent
Hearing placement approved at a permanency hearing.
Judicial Review The