(1) The waiver process is the procedure by which individuals who already meet criteria established by the Third Party Credentialing Agency are eligible to take a waiver test and enter into an individualized waiver plan in lieu of participating in the training requirements to achieve provisional certification.
    (2) A waiver test shall never be given if the individual whose certification was previously revoked for cause by the Third Party Credentialing Entity.
    (3) Any individual who does not pass the waiver test on his or her first attempt, shall participate in the entire pre-service curriculum, and shall successfully complete all pre-service training requirements.
    (4) The employing agency shall require the participation in the entire pre-service training and post-test process of any individual for whom training needs or known job performance deficits have been identified, prior to the assignment of primary responsibility for any investigation, child, family or case.
    (5) The Waiver Test.
    (a) There must be no waiver test preparation classes conducted or pre-service curriculum study materials provided to any individual in order to help prepare him or her for the waiver test.
    (b) The waiver test must be administered within 10 business days of the individual’s start date in the position into which he or she was hired.
    (c) The employing agency shall maintain written documentation of the individual’s applicable educational and employment experience as verification of the employee’s eligibility to take the waiver test.
    (d) The waiver test taken by an individual shall be the version designed for the position classification into which the individual is hired.
    (e) If the individual fails the waiver test, no waiver plan is developed, and the individual must participate in the pre-service training in trainee status, regardless of any prior education or previous experience.
    (6) The minimum established passing score of the waiver test shall be determined by the Third Party Credentialing Entity offering the certification.
    (7) The waiver test is administered and scored by the Third Party Credentialing Entity and, upon conclusion of the waiver test, the test proctor shall provide the individual with his or her preliminary waiver test score immediately upon completion of the test. Within five (5) business days of the completion of the test, the Third Party Credentialing Entity shall send the trainee his or her official score via U.S. mail or electronic mail. Each employing agency shall develop protocols with regard to the dissemination of an individual’s waiver test score to personnel within the agency.
    (8) The Waiver Plan.
    (a) The employing agency shall ensure that, upon successful completion of the waiver test Child Welfare Professional enters into an agency-designed waiver plan.
    (b) Within five (5) business days of having passed the waiver test, the Child Welfare Professional shall meet with his or her supervisor and a child welfare trainer in order to enter into and sign an individualized waiver plan, which shall address:
    1. The requirement that the individual participate in pre-service classes and activities in the track of the new position classification that he or she had not previously attended or completed, and participate in any other identified classroom, field and online training and activities needed to bring the individual up to the current standard of a Florida Child Welfare Professional in the same position classification;
    2. The requirement that full certification shall be completed within one (1) year of the date of passing the waiver test; and,
    3. The roles, tasks, responsibilities and specific time frames for completion assigned to each party, in order to address identified needs and enhance or update current knowledge in order to help ensure that the individual has access to the resources and supports necessary for his or her successful job performance and completion of the certification process.
    (9) As part of any waiver plan, the employing agency may require that an individual participate in additional trainings and activities, regardless of certification status, education or experience. These additional requirements depend upon such factors as the type, length and degree of the individual’s previous child welfare or other applicable experience; the individual’s prior job performance history; duration of the individual’s break in service (if applicable); and changes in Florida law, policy and practice which may have occurred since the individual last attended pre-service training.
    (10) Regardless of certification status or any prior education or previous experience, until such time as the waiver plan has been reviewed, completed and signed by all parties, the Child Welfare Professional who has passed the waiver test shall not carry a caseload, assign or be assigned responsibility for any cases, conduct any unaccompanied or unsupervised home visits, perform any unsupervised home studies or interviews of children or adults, be ultimately responsible for any assessment of risk, be tasked with any oversight or approval of the work of others, or otherwise have primary responsibility for or provide oversight of any investigation, child, family or case.
    (11) Each Child Protection Professional who passes the waiver test shall be given provisional certification.
    (12) There is no waiver procedure for the full certification portion of the certification process, or for the 40 continuing education training hours required every two (2) years for certification renewal.
Rulemaking Authority 402.40 FS. Law Implemented Florida Statutes § 402.40. History-New 10-14-10, Amended 12-24-15.