CS for SB 1666 - Child Welfare Summary

• Establishes an Assistant Secretary for Child Welfare position within the Department of Children and Families requiring at least 7 years of child protective or child welfare services experience.

• Creates safety planning requirements during child protective investigations for cases involving present or impending danger, with specific implementation standards and collaboration protocols between investigators and community-based care lead agencies.

• Implements critical incident rapid response teams to investigate child deaths reported to the central abuse hotline and serious incidents, with team composition requirements and guidelines for root-cause analysis.

• Expands child welfare services for medically complex children including family-centered support programs, specialized medical evaluations, and education/training requirements for personnel handling medical neglect cases.

• Establishes community-based care lead agency system with comprehensive contracting, oversight, liability protections (capped damages at $2 million per claim), and performance accountability measures through results-oriented system.

• Creates Florida Institute for Child Welfare at Florida State University to conduct research, evaluation, and leadership development for child protection and welfare services.

• Adds student loan forgiveness and tuition exemption programs for child protection and welfare personnel with social work degrees, with 5-year employment retention requirements.