Executive Summary

In accordance with section 1004.615, Florida Statutes, the Florida Institute for Child Welfare (hereafter referred to as the Institute), submits this annual report to the Governor.

The Institute was created to provide research and evaluation that contributes to a more sustainable, accountable, and effective child welfare system. This report covers the period of October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022. The purpose of this report is to present the implementation efforts to date for our current mandates and ongoing research and evaluation work and to provide current research findings and policy and practice recommendations. It also provides an overview of our new mandates as outlined in Senate Bill 1326. Within this report is a summary of the budget expenditures for the state FY 2021-2022, a plan for utilization of carry-forward resources, and a projected budget for next year. The Institute maintained partnerships with the Department of Children and Families (DCF, Department), sheriffs’ offices who administer child protective services, and the community-based care (CBC) lead agencies. The child welfare workforce was already experiencing sustainability challenges, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these issues. This has re-affirmed the urgency and importance of sustainable enhancements to the overall workforce (preparation/ recruitment, professional support and career development, and organizational culture shifts). The Institute designed an approach through the GROW Center with every intention to bridge the gap between strategic initiatives and continuous quality improvement through evaluation efforts. The investment in child welfare workforce research over the past few years rendered findings which contributed to our GROW Center solutions to the persistent issues within organizations. Since the new appropriation in 2021, the Institute expanded and cultivated old and new partnerships with the overall goal of transforming the child welfare workforce from the classroom to casework to developing competent leaders throughout the state. The next section is a description of the work from this past year and what lies ahead for the Institute, which includes the latest developments of the GROW Center and the research infrastructure we adopted to meet the needs of the desired growth statewide.