The Florida Senate

415.5055  Child protection teams; services; eligible cases.--The department shall develop, maintain, and coordinate the services of one or more multidisciplinary child protection teams in each of the service districts of the department. Such teams may be composed of representatives of appropriate health, mental health, social service, legal service, and law enforcement agencies. The Legislature finds that optimal coordination of child protection teams and sexual abuse treatment programs requires collaboration between the Department of Health and the Department of Children and Family Services. The two departments shall maintain an interagency agreement that establishes protocols for oversight and operations of child protection teams and sexual abuse treatment programs. The Secretary of Health and the Director of the Division of Children's Medical Services, in consultation with the Secretary of Children and Family Services, shall maintain the responsibility for the screening, employment, and, if necessary, the termination of child protection team medical directors, at headquarters and in the 15 districts. Child protection team medical directors shall be responsible for oversight of the teams in the districts.

(1)  The department shall utilize and convene the teams to supplement the assessment and protective supervision activities of the children, youth, and families program of the department. Nothing in this section shall be construed to remove or reduce the duty and responsibility of any person to report pursuant to s. 415.504 all suspected or actual cases of child abuse or neglect or sexual abuse of a child. The role of the teams shall be to support activities of the program and to provide services deemed by the teams to be necessary and appropriate to abused and neglected children upon referral. The specialized diagnostic assessment, evaluation, coordination, consultation, and other supportive services that a child protection team shall be capable of providing include, but are not limited to, the following:

(a)  Medical diagnosis and evaluation services, including provision or interpretation of X rays and laboratory tests, and related services, as needed, and documentation of findings relative thereto.

(b)  Telephone consultation services in emergencies and in other situations.

(c)  Medical evaluation related to abuse or neglect, as defined by department policy or rule.

(d)  Such psychological and psychiatric diagnosis and evaluation services for the child or the child's parent or parents, guardian or guardians, or other caregivers, or any other individual involved in a child abuse or neglect case, as the team may determine to be needed.

(e)  Short-term psychological treatment. It is the intent of the Legislature that short-term psychological treatment be limited to no more than 6 months' duration after treatment is initiated, except that the appropriate district administrator may authorize such treatment for individual children beyond this limitation if the administrator deems it appropriate.

(f)  Expert medical, psychological, and related professional testimony in court cases.

(g)  Case staffings to develop, implement, and monitor treatment plans for children whose cases have been referred to the team. A child protection team may provide consultation with respect to a child who has not been referred to the team, but who is alleged or is shown to be abused, which consultation shall be provided at the request of a representative of the children, youth, and families program or at the request of any other professional involved with a child or the child's parent or parents, guardian or guardians, or other caregivers. In every such child protection team case staffing, consultation, or staff activity involving a child, a children, youth, and families program representative shall attend and participate.

(h)  Case service coordination and assistance, including the location of services available from other public and private agencies in the community.

(i)  Such training services for program and other department employees as is deemed appropriate to enable them to develop and maintain their professional skills and abilities in handling child abuse and neglect cases.

(j)  Educational and community awareness campaigns on child abuse and neglect in an effort to enable citizens more successfully to prevent, identify, and treat child abuse and neglect in the community.

(2)  The child abuse and neglect cases that are appropriate for referral by the children, youth, and families program to child protection teams for support services as set forth in subsection (1) include, but are not limited to, cases involving:

(a)  Bruises, burns, or fractures in a child under the age of 3 years or in a nonambulatory child of any age.

(b)  Unexplained or implausibly explained bruises, burns, fractures, or other injuries in a child of any age.

(c)  Sexual abuse of a child in which vaginal or anal penetration is alleged or in which other unlawful sexual conduct has been determined to have occurred.

(d)  Venereal disease, or any other sexually transmitted disease, in a prepubescent child.

(e)  Reported malnutrition of a child and failure of a child to thrive.

(f)  Reported medical, physical, or emotional neglect of a child.

(g)  Any family in which one or more children have been pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital or other health care facility, or have been injured and later died, as a result of suspected abuse or neglect, when any sibling or other child remains in the home.

(h)  Symptoms of serious emotional problems in a child when emotional or other abuse or neglect is suspected.

(3)  All records and reports of the child protection team are confidential and exempt from the provisions of ss. 119.07(1) and ¹455.241, and shall not be disclosed, except, upon request, to the state attorney, law enforcement, the department, and necessary professionals, in furtherance of the treatment or additional evaluative needs of the child or by order of the court.

In all instances in which a child protection team is providing certain services to abused or neglected children, other offices and units of the department shall avoid duplicating the provision of those services.

History.--s. 9, ch. 84-226; s. 63, ch. 85-81; s. 23, ch. 88-337; s. 53, ch. 90-306; s. 24, ch. 95-228; s. 273, ch. 96-406; s. 1043, ch. 97-103; s. 4, ch. 97-237.

¹Note.--Transferred to s. 455.667 by s. 82, ch. 97-261.