The Department of Health Children’s Medical Services Child Protection Team (CPT) program is a medically directed, multidisciplinary statewide program designed to supplement the child protective investigation activities of local Sheriff’s offices and the Department of Children and Family Services in complex cases of child abuse and neglect.

• CPT Statewide Offices

• CPT Statewide Directory(pdf - 123kb)

• CPT Brochure(pdf - 529kb)

Section 39.303, Florida Statutes, authorizes the Children’s Medical Services Program in the Department of Health to develop, maintain, and coordinate child protection team services through contracts with local community-based programs. Twenty-four Child Protection Teams, some with satellite offices, provide these services to all children in the state meeting criteria for referral.

The Child Protection Team program operates on the premise that child abuse and neglect is a multifaceted problem requiring multidisciplinary evaluation. Child protection teams provide expertise in evaluating alleged maltreatments of child abuse and neglect, assessing risk and protective factors, and providing recommendations for interventions to protect children and enhance their caregiver’s capacity to provide a safer environment when possible.

The existence of suspicion of child abuse or neglect that has been reported to the Florida Abuse Hotline and accepted for investigation provides automatic eligibility for Child Protection Team assessment activities. There are no financial criteria for team services.

Child abuse, abandonment and neglect reports that must be referred by child protective investigators to child protection teams include cases involving:

• Injuries to the head, bruises to the neck or head, burns, or fractures in a child of any age.

•  Bruises anywhere on a child five years of age or younger.

• Any report alleging sexual abuse of a child.

• Any sexually transmitted disease in a prepubescent child.

• Reported malnutrition or failure of a child to thrive.

• Reported medical neglect of a child.

• Symptoms of serious emotional problems in a child when emotional or other abuse, abandonment, or neglect is suspected.

• A sibling or other child remaining in a home where one or more children have been pronounced dead on arrival or have been injured and later died as a result of suspected abuse, abandonment or neglect.

Upon acceptance of a referral from the Department of Children and Families or law enforcement, the child protection teams may provide one or more of the following services:

• Medical diagnosis and evaluation

• Nursing assessments

• Child and family assessments

• Multidisciplinary staffings

• Psychological and psychiatric evaluations

• Specialized and forensic interviews

• Expert court testimony

Additionally, child protection team staff provide:

• Training for child protection investigators and other community providers of child welfare services.

• Training for emergency room staff and other medical providers in the community