Below is more information about the agency, including who leads it, how many staff the department employs and what it does.
FAST FACTS
Budget: $4,847,138,852 total, with an estimated $132,737,102 IT budget for FY2024, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Focus on Florida’s Future Budget for fiscal year 2024-2025.
Leadership: Cole Sousa is the agency’s chief information officer.
Staff: The agency has approximately 12,966 employees, according to budget documents.
MORE ABOUT THE AGENCY
In 1996, the Florida Department of Children and Families was created after the state Legislature split the former Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services into DCF and the Florida Department of Health.
Since then, the agency has grown to offer various services, including public benefits and services, child and family services, safety and protection, substance abuse and mental health assistance, licensing and background screening, and youth and young adult services.
As a whole, the agency is “committed to the well-being of children and their families. Our responsibilities encompass a wide range of services, including — among other things — assistance to families working to stay safely together or be reunited, foster care, youth and young adults transitioning from foster care to independence and adoption,” DCF’s website states.
As for how tech comes into play, the Legislature’s recently published budget for 2024-2025 states that the agency could receive the following funding for tech by July 1 if approved by DeSantis:
- $124 million has been earmarked for information technology
- $29.3 million from the federal grants trust fund has been earmarked for the agency’s Florida Online Recipient Integrated Data Access Technology System
- $25 million from the federal grants trust fund and $11.6 million from the general revenue fund have been set aside for the agency’s Automated Community Connection to Economic Self-Sufficiency Florida System
- $15.8 million from the general revenue fund, $10.5 million from the federal grants trust fund and $303,259 will go toward the agency Florida Safe Families Network
- $8.9 million from the general revenue fund and $8.6 million from the federal grants trust fund will go toward the agency’s Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System modernization project
More information about the agency’s potential IT spend can be found online.
