Children’s Home Society of Florida (CHS), the state’s largest and most reputable provider of services to children and families, recently announced the launch of a new upstream-focused brand initiative to reshape the future for Florida’s kids.
CHS’ direction focuses on delivering solutions that empower families through encouragement, education and guidance to raise safe, strong, happy children ready to realize their full potential.
“We’ve been helping children and families in crisis for more than 100 years. Yet, the number of children entering — and staying in — foster care continues to grow,” said CHS president and CEO Michael Shaver. “The demand for our services continues to increase. So we asked ourselves how we could change the trajectory of lives before crisis strikes, before families entered the child welfare system.
“The answer was simple: Work upstream to build bridges to success for these children. We can do the most good by empowering children and their families to find and build upon their strengths, to rise above the challenges and circumstances they face, and to open doors to new opportunities.”
Indeed, the challenges Florida’s children face today are daunting:
• Nearly one million children (23 percent) live in extreme poverty.
• One in four will suffer abuse or neglect, making them nine times more likely to engage in criminal activity and 25 percent more likely to experience teen pregnancy.
• Twenty percent of children suffer from a mental health challenge that, left untreated, will often lead to unemployment and incarceration; more than 70 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system struggle with a mental health challenge.
“These are complex challenges that require innovative, strategic solutions,” Shaver said. “We have been resolute in our determination to reimagine the services we provide to turn these odds into opportunities for Florida’s children.”
Services and solutions CHS now provides to prepare children for success include:
Early education and care — CHS guides children to reach key developmental, social and emotional milestones and prepare them to begin kindergarten on track, excited to learn and ready to realize their potential. Simultaneously, we empower their parents to set and achieve educational and employment goals, to create safe and healthy homes for their children, to manage stress and, ultimately, to break cycles of poverty and abuse.
Community Partnership Schools — CHJS addresses the key barriers to education – violence, hunger, housing instability, illness, behavioral health struggles and more – by bringing partners together in one place to serve students. Community Partnership Schools also offer children mentoring, leadership and after-school opportunities and empower parents to take a proactive role in their children’s education. This proven model is the only one of its kind in Florida.
Counseling — Counselors meet children and families where it is most convenient for them — at home, in the office or at school. CHS’ counselors go where no other providers are willing to go — from extreme rural communities to high-crime neighborhoods. In addition, children who also need psychiatry services can receive near-immediate access to a board-certified adolescent psychiatrist via CHS’ unique telepsychiatry partnership with UF Health, without which, most children would wait up to six months for an appointment. And recently, CHS launched a new telehealth component, offering face-to-face video sessions between children and counselors. CHS is the only statewide organization that provides this service.
CaseAIM: A transformational change in foster care management — Finding it unacceptable for children to spend years in foster care, CHS is addressing the root problem that contributes to such lengthy stays — turnover in case management — by changing the way the work is done. CHS developed CaseAIM in partnership with leading tech giants to modernize the case management system — the first and only organization in the country to do so.
Tech Success — A one-of-a-kind online learning platform developed by CHS that helps kids — especially those in foster care and impoverished communities — develop the skills they need to stay on pace with their peers in school and prepare them for the next stage: college, employment and careers.
Other visible components that articulate CHS’ new brand initiative include an updated logo and new website.
For more information, visit www.chsfl.org.
