How long does a new Florida APD hire have to complete training?

It depends on the requirement. Rule 65G-2.008(7), F.A.C. gives 90 days for Direct Care Core Competencies, first aid/CPR and the HIV/AIDS course. Zero Tolerance must be completed before providing direct services at all.

What must be done before a new APD staff member's first shift?

Background screening must be cleared before working with residents, and Zero Tolerance training must be completed prior to providing direct services under Rule 65G-2.008(7)(c). Training and orientation may happen while screening is pending; resident contact may not.

Can a new hire start work before background screening clears?

They may attend training and orientation, but not work with residents. Screening must be cleared before there is any resident contact.

How long must Florida group homes keep staff training records?

At least three years after the training is received. Rule 65G-2.008(7)(b), F.A.C. requires written documentation of all required staff training to be maintained by the licensee for that period and made available to APD on request.

Training08/16/2026·6 min read

The 90-Day Clock: What a New APD Hire Actually Has Time For

Most summaries flatten Florida's new-hire training rules into "before hire." The rule doesn't. Three requirements have 90 days, two have 30, and only a few genuinely come first — quoted from 65G-2.008(7).

Ask the internet what a new direct care staff member needs before their first shift at a Florida group home and you will get one answer: everything. It is the safe thing to say and it is wrong, in a way that costs real money and real hiring.

The licensing rule — 65G-2.008(7), F.A.C., "Staffing Requirements for Residential Facilities" — sets three different clocks, and it is quite specific about which requirement sits on which. Here is what it actually says.

Before the first shift: screening and Zero Tolerance

Background screening has to be cleared before someone works with residents. Training and orientation can happen while it is pending; resident contact cannot. Alongside it, the local criminal records check and the Attestation of Good Moral Character belong in the file.

The training that genuinely comes first is Zero Tolerance. The rule:

"All direct service providers hired to work in a licensed residential facility must complete the Agency's Zero Tolerance training curriculum on the detection, prevention, and reporting of abuse, neglect, and exploitation prior to providing direct services. In addition, all direct service providers must complete a refresher Zero Tolerance training course every three years."

Note the second sentence while you are here. Zero Tolerance is widely believed to be annual. It is not.

Within 30 days: HIPAA

The iBudget Handbook's training table gives HIPAA "within 30 days of providing services," renewed annually. Behavioral Emergency Procedures also carries a 30-day time frame — but only for staff serving someone whose plan uses reactive strategies, and for those staff it has to be done before that service starts, which in practice makes it a before-you-assign-them requirement rather than a 30-day one.

Within 90 days: the three people rush

This is the part that surprises people. Three requirements — the three most likely to be treated as day-one blockers — carry a 90-day window in the rule itself.

Direct Care Core Competencies — "within 90 days of first providing services or supports to residents." 65G-2.008(7)(a).
CPR and First Aid — a basic first aid course including the abdominal thrust maneuver and CPR, with current CPR certification maintained, "within 90 days of providing direct services." 65G-2.008(7)(d).
HIV/AIDS — "All staff must complete an educational course on HIV/AIDS, within 90 days of providing direct services." 65G-2.008(7)(e).

The handbook's Appendix B agrees on all three, listing them as "within 90 days of providing services."

Two things the CPR paragraph slips in

It is worth reading 65G-2.008(7)(d) twice, because it carries two requirements that are easy to miss on the first pass. The training "must be provided in a classroom setting by a certified trainer" — so a fully online CPR card does not satisfy it, regardless of who issued it. And:

"Facilities shall ensure there is always at least one direct service provider with current CPR certification onsite when residents are present."

That is a scheduling duty, not a training one. Every individual on shift can be inside their own 90-day window or their own renewal cycle and the home can still be out of compliance if nobody on that shift holds a current card.

Why getting this right cuts both ways

Treating a 90-day item as a day-one blocker sounds cautious, and it is the more common mistake. But it has a cost: it delays start dates you did not need to delay, and it trains everyone to treat the compliance list as noise, which is exactly when the items that genuinely come first stop getting the attention they deserve. Being precise about the clock is not laxity. It is what makes the urgent things legible as urgent.

Care Wizard counts these clocks per person from their start date — Zero Tolerance before day one, HIPAA at 30 days, Core Competencies, CPR and HIV/AIDS at 90 — and turns each item yellow while the window is open rather than red the moment somebody is hired.

Sources

Rule 65G-2.008(7), F.A.C. — Staffing Requirements for Residential Facilities (paragraphs (a), (c), (d) and (e) quoted above)
APD iBudget Handbook (May 2023), Appendix B, Table 1 — time frames for Core Competencies, Zero Tolerance, HIPAA, First Aid, CPR and AIDS/HIV/Infection Control

This article is general information for Florida APD group-home providers, not legal advice or a guarantee of compliance. Rules change and vary by region — always confirm the current requirement with the cited source and your APD regional office.