Florida Bill SPB 7074 - Child Welfare Summary

• Establishes critical incident rapid response teams to investigate child deaths and serious incidents reported to the Department of Children and Families' child abuse hotline, with findings made public through the department's website.

• Creates community-based care lead agencies to provide child protection and welfare services under 5-year contracts, replacing previous foster care service delivery models with community-focused governance through local alliances.

• Requires the department to make reasonable efforts to keep siblings together during out-of-home placement and provide sibling visitation when separation occurs, with judicial review hearings considering sibling contact frequency and quality.

• Expands the Relative Caregiver Program to include nonrelative caregivers who can provide temporary legal custody of dependent children and their siblings, with same financial assistance available as for relative caregivers.

• Mandates public disclosure of basic facts regarding child deaths reported to the abuse hotline, including the child's name, date of death, cause allegations, and prior abuse reports, while protecting reporter identity.