The bill amends various sections of Florida Statutes concerning child welfare, particularly the responsibilities of the Department of Children and Families (DCF). It mandates DCF to maintain copies of assessments and tools for evaluating children for placement and to keep individual-level data on children assessed for safe house or foster home placements. The bill also allows DCF to waive certain requirements for domestic violence centers in emergencies and grants the department authority to issue provisional certificates under specified conditions. Notably, it removes the department's authority to grant exemptions from working with children or the developmentally disabled, while allowing limited exemptions to certain minimum standards. Additionally, the bill establishes new training requirements for foster parents and agency staff focused on human trafficking.

Furthermore, the legislation introduces a pilot program for treatment foster care, set to begin on July 1, 2025, aimed at providing specialized care for children with high behavioral health needs. This program will involve collaboration with community-based care lead agencies to recruit licensed providers and identify eligible children for placement. The bill also establishes a workgroup to improve workforce retention and community innovation, which will report its findings by December 1, 2025. Additionally, DCF is mandated to conduct a detailed study on bed capacity for residential treatment services and a gap analysis for nonresidential treatment services for child victims of commercial sexual exploitation, with a completion deadline of December 31, 2025. The bill is set to take effect on July 1, 2025, with certain provisions becoming effective immediately upon passage.

Statutes affected:
S 7012 Filed: 39.524
S 7012 c1: 39.524
S 7012 e1: 39.524, 39.905, 402.305, 409.987, 402.30501, 1002.59
S 7012 er: 39.524, 39.905, 402.305, 409.987, 402.30501, 1002.59