CS/HB 757 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0757-01-c1
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to contracts entered into by the 2
Department of Children and Families; amending s. 3
409.996, F.S.; revising requirements for contracts 4
between the department and lead agencies; providing an 5
effective date. 6
7
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 8
9
Section 1. Paragraph (f) of subsection (1) of section 10
409.996, Florida Statutes, is redesignated as paragraph (h), and 11
new paragraphs (f) and (g) are added to that subsection, to 12
read: 13
409.996 Duties of the Department of Children and 14
Families.—The department shall contract for the delivery, 15
administration, or management of care for children in the child 16
protection and child welfar e system. In doing so, the department 17
retains responsibility for the quality of contracted services 18
and programs and shall ensure that, at a minimum, services are 19
delivered in accordance with applicable federal and state 20
statutes and regulations and the pe rformance standards and 21
metrics specified in the strategic plan created under s. 22
20.19(1). 23
(1) The department shall enter into contracts with lead 24
agencies for the performance of the duties by the lead agencies 25
CS/HB 757 2023
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
established in s. 409.988. At a minimum, th e contracts must do 26
all of the following: 27
(f) Require lead agencies to annually provide written and 28
published operating procedures that detail timelines and 29
procedures to maximize the use of concurrent case planning, 30
minimize the time to complete prelimi nary and final adoptive 31
home studies, streamline data entry into the statewide child 32
welfare information system, and reduce time to permanency. 33
(g) Require lead agencies to gather all necessary child -34
specific information to complete adoptive home studies , 35
excluding information related to any prospective caregiver, and 36
enter such information into the child welfare information system 37
of record no later than 90 days after the filing of the petition 38
for termination of parental rights. 39
Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023. 40