Bill Text: FL S1064 | 2023 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Trauma Screening for Children Removed from Caregivers

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 3-1)

Status: (Passed) 2023-06-16 - Chapter No. 2023-254 [S1064 Detail]

Download: Florida-2023-S1064-Comm_Sub.html

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       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.