Child Protection Team Referral Criteria

Referral Criteria for the General Public

The Child Protection Team (CPT) does not accept direct referrals from concerned parents, family members, or the community at large. This is because the Florida Child Protection System wants to ensure that every child abuse concern is appropriately reported and accepted for investigation. Once a report has been generated to the Florida Abuse Hotline (1-800-962-2873), CPT receives the report and our medical staff will review it to determine if it meets the mandatory referral criteria, outline in the Florida Statutes, to be referred for services.

Referral Criteria for Professionals

In order for the Child Protection Team to become involved in a case there must be an open investigation with the Department of Children and Families and the child must be listed as a victim on the abuse report for CPT to provide services in familial child abuse cases. In cases on non-familial child abuse CPT can provide services at the request of law enforcement and the State Attorney’s Office.