THE BILL ITSELF
SB 7018
Child Welfare
Florida Senate - 2026 SB 7018 By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs 586-01896-26 20267018__
1
A bill to be entitled
2
An act relating to child welfare; amending s. 39.01,
3
F.S.; revising the definition of the term “visitor”;
4
amending s. 409.1455, F.S.; renaming the Step into
5
Success Workforce Education and Internship Pilot
6
Program as the Step into Success Workforce Education
7
and Internship Program; deleting a provision limiting
8
the duration of the program; requiring the
9
department’s Office of Continuing Care to develop
10
certain cohorts within specified regions, collaborate
11
with certain organizations and recruit mentors and
12
organizations, and provide eligible former foster
13
youth with internship placement opportunities;
14
deleting a provision requiring that the program be
15
administered in a certain manner; deleting obsolete
16
language; requiring the Office of Continuing Care to
17
develop trauma-informed training for mentors of
18
certain former foster youth which meets certain
19
requirements; authorizing the office to provide
20
certain additional trainings on mentorship of special
21
populations; revising the amount of monthly financial
22
assistance that the office shall provide to
23
participating former foster youth; requiring the
24
office to assign experienced staff to serve as program
25
liaisons for a specified purpose; revising
26
qualifications to serve as a mentor; authorizing the
27
department to offer certain training to mentors in
28
subsequent years; authorizing an employee who serves
29
as a mentor to participate in certain additional
30
trainings; deleting a provision authorizing the offset
31
of a reduction in or loss of certain benefits due to
32
receipt of a Step into Success stipend by an
33
additional stipend payment; amending s. 1004.615,
34
F.S.; requiring the Florida Institute for Child
35
Welfare, in collaboration with the department’s Office
36
of Quality and Office of Child and Family Well-being,
37
to establish a certain best practices program;
38
providing an effective date.
40
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
42
Section 1. Subsection (91) of section 39.01, Florida
43
Statutes, is amended to read:
44
39.01 Definitions.—When used in this chapter, unless the
45
context otherwise requires:
46
(91) “Visitor” means a person who:
47
(a) Provides care or supervision to a child in the home ,
48
other than a contracted service provider screened pursuant to
49
chapter 435 ; or
50
(b) Is 12 years of age or older, other than a child in
51
care, and who will be in the child’s home at least:
52
1. Ten Five consecutive days; or
53
2. Fourteen Seven days or more in 1 month.
54
Section 2. Subsections (2) and (4), paragraphs (b) and (e)
55
of subsection (6), paragraph (b) of subsection (7), paragraph
56
(d) of subsection (10), and subsection (11) of section 409.1455,
57
Florida Statutes, are amended, and paragraph (i) is added to
58
subsection (6) of that section, to read:
59
409.1455 Step into Success Workforce Education and
60
Internship Pilot Program for foster youth and former foster
61
youth.—
62
(2) CREATION.—The department shall establish the 3-year
63
Step into Success Workforce Education and Internship Pilot
64
Program to give eligible foster youth and former foster youth an
65
opportunity to learn and develop essential workforce and
66
professional skills, to transition from the custody of the
67
department to independent living, and to become better prepared
68
for an independent and successful future. The pilot program must
69
consist of an independent living professionalism and workforce
70
education component and, for youth who complete that component,
71
an onsite workforce training internship component. In
72
consultation with subject-matter experts and the community-based
73
care lead agencies, the office shall develop and administer the
74
pilot program for interested foster youth and former foster
75
youth; however, the department may contract with entities that
76
have demonstrable subject-matter expertise in the transition to
77
adulthood for foster youth, workforce training and preparedness,
78
professional skills, and related subjects to collaborate with
79
the office in the development and administration of the pilot
80
program. The independent living professionalism and workforce
81
education component of the program must culminate in a
82
certificate that allows a former foster youth to participate in
83
the onsite workforce training internship.
84
(4) REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEPARTMENT AND OFFICE.—The
85
department shall establish and the office shall develop and
86
administer the pilot program for eligible foster youth and
87
former foster youth. The office shall do all of the following:
88
(a) Develop eligible foster youth and former foster youth
89
cohorts within the department’s regions.
90
(b) Collaborate with local chambers of commerce and recruit
91
mentors and organizations within the department’s regions,
92
emphasizing recruitment of mentors and organizations in the
93
following counties:
94
1. Duval.
95
2. Escambia.
96
3. Hillsborough.
97
4. Palm Beach.
98
5. Polk.
99
(c) Provide eligible former foster youth with a variety of
100
internship placement opportunities, including by connecting
101
existing third-party mentorship organizations that focus on
102
former foster youth with eligible former foster youth who have
103
an interest in such organizations’ programs The pilot program
104
must be administered as part of an eligible foster youth’s
105
regular transition planning under s. 39.6035 or as a post
106
transition service for eligible former foster youth . The office
107
must begin the professionalism and workforce education component
108
of the program on or before January 1, 2024, and the onsite
109
workforce training internship component of the program on or
110
before July 1, 2024.
111
(6) ONSITE WORKFORCE TRAINING INTERNSHIP COMPONENT
112
REQUIREMENTS.—The office shall do all of the following in
113
connection with the onsite workforce training internship program
114
for eligible former foster youth:
115
(b) Develop a minimum of 1 hour of required trauma-informed
116
training for mentors to satisfy the requirements provided in
117
sub-subparagraph (7)(b)1.e. Such training must include
118
interactive or experiential components, such as role-playing,
119
scenario discussion, or case studies. The office may provide at
120
least 4 additional 1-hour trainings on mentorship of special
121
populations as optional training opportunities, which must be
122
asynchronous and accessible to mentors online at their
123
convenience, and shall inform participating organizations of
124
these optional training opportunities teach the skills necessary
125
to engage with participating eligible former foster youth .
126
(e) Provide a participating former foster youth with
127
financial assistance in the amount of $1,717 $1,517 monthly and
128
develop a process and schedule for the distribution of payments
129
to former foster youth participating in the component, subject
130
to the availability of funds.
131
(i) Assign experienced staff to serve as program liaisons
132
who are available for mentors to contact whenever the mentors
133
need to debrief or have questions concerning a former foster
134
youth.
135
(7) REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS.—Each
136
organization participating in the onsite workforce training
137
internship component shall:
138
(b) Recruit employees to serve as mentors for former foster
139
youth interning with such organizations.
140
1. To serve as a mentor, an employee must:
141
a. Have worked in his or her career field or area for the
142
participating organization for at least 1 year;
143
b. Have experience relevant to the job and task
144
responsibilities of the intern;
145
c. Sign a monthly hour statement for the intern;
146
d. Allocate at least 1 hour per month to conduct mentor-led
147
performance reviews, to include a review of the intern’s work
148
product, professionalism, time management, communication style,
149
and stress-management strategies; and
150
e. Complete a minimum of 1 hour of trauma-informed training
151
to gain and maintain skills critical for successfully engaging
152
former foster youth. The employee must complete a 1-hour
153
training before being matched with a former foster youth which
154
covers core topics, including, but not limited to:
155
(I) Understanding trauma and its impacts.
156
(II) Recognizing and responding to trauma-related
157
behaviors.
158
(III) De-escalation strategies and crisis response.
159
(IV) Boundaries and mentor self-care.
160
(V) Communication skills.
162
The department may offer a 1-hour training to review topics
163
covered by the training required under this sub-subparagraph
164
every subsequent year that the employee chooses to serve as a
165
mentor.
166
2. Subject to available funding, an employee who serves as
167
a mentor and receives the required trauma-informed training is
168
eligible for a maximum payment of $1,200 per intern per fiscal
169
year, to be issued as a $100 monthly payment for every month of
170
service as a mentor.
171
3. An employee may serve as a mentor for a maximum of three
172
interns at one time and may not receive more than $3,600 in
173
compensation per fiscal year for serving as a mentor. Any time
174
spent serving as a mentor to an intern under this section counts
175
toward the minimum service required for eligibility for payments
176
pursuant to subparagraph 2. and this subparagraph.
177
4. An employee who serves as a mentor may participate in
178
additional trainings on the mentorship of special populations as
179
made available by the office.
180
(10) CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION IN THE INTERNSHIP
181
COMPONENT.—
182
(d) Stipend money earned pursuant to the internship
183
component may not be considered earned income for purposes of
184
computing eligibility for federal or state benefits, including,
185
but not limited to, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
186
Program, a housing choice assistance voucher program, the
187
Temporary Cash Assistance Program, the Medicaid program, or the
188
school readiness program. Notwithstanding this paragraph, any
189
reduction in the amount of benefits or loss of benefits due to
190
receipt of the Step into Success stipend may be offset by an
191
additional stipend payment equal to the value of the maximum
192
benefit amount for a single person allowed under the
193
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
194
(11) REPORT.—The department shall include a section on the
195
Step into Success Workforce Education and Internship Pilot
196
Program in the independent living annual report prepared
197
pursuant to s. 409.1451(6) which includes, but is not limited
198
to, all of the following:
199
(a) Whether the pilot program is in compliance with this
200
section, and if not, barriers to compliance.
201
(b) A list of participating organizations and the number of
202
interns.
203
(c) A summary of recruitment efforts to increase the number
204
of participating organizations.
205
(d) A summary of the feedback and surveys received pursuant
206
to paragraph (6)(h) from participating former foster youth,
207
mentors, and others who have participated in the pilot program.
208
(e) Recommendations, if any, for actions necessary to
209
improve the quality, effectiveness, and outcomes of the pilot
210
program.
211
(f) Employment outcomes of former foster youth who
212
participated in the pilot program, including employment status
213
after completion of the program, whether he or she is employed
214
by the participating organization in which he or she interned or
215
by another entity, and job description and salary information,
216
if available.
217
Section 3. Present subsections (9), (10), and (11) of
218
section 1004.615, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as
219
subsections (10), (11), and (12), respectively, and a new
220
subsection (9) is added to that section, to read:
221
1004.615 Florida Institute for Child Welfare.—
222
(9) The institute, in collaboration with the Department of
223
Children and Families’ Office of Quality and Office of Child and
224
Family Well-being, shall establish a program to identify,
225
describe, and catalogue best practices within the community
226
based care model. Such best practices may include, but need not
227
be limited to, management practices, administrative structure,
228
internal and external communication, quality assurance, contract
229
management, program development and creation, and child and
230
family outcome monitoring.
231
Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.