By Stacey Gromatsky, President and CEO of Florida Youth and Family Services Network.
Our Sunshine State is a shining example of many great things. Without a doubt, our number one priority is nurturing and protecting our children and families. This includes actively providing support to children who have serious problems, often face insurmountable challenges, and who are unable to manage their daily lives in a consistent and healthy way.
That is our mission every day at Florida Youth and Family Services Network. Our organization is a statewide network of organizations that provide shelter, counseling, and family skill building. These programs are designed to support children and families facing various forms of crisis. In America’s third largest state, the network provides intake and counseling services in all 67 Florida counties and provides 28 shelter locations for those in need of respite. There is help nearby in almost every area of Florida.
Our network, a statewide association of youth assistance programs, began in the early 1970s, when youth seeking a different life were often running away from home. These young people were often lured down a path of misery. The hard truth was that these young people often met dark fates such as robbery, beatings, sexual abuse, and even murder.
In response, Congress appropriated funds for escape shelters in major metropolitan areas to help children safely evacuate and eventually return to their parents.
In the decades since then, the need for shelter for children has evolved and actually increased significantly. As CEO of Florida Network, I often hear from families in desperate need of help. Often these families are unaware that there are resources in their community that can help them.
Children today seek shelter for a variety of reasons. Frustrated by their inability to help their troubled child get back on track, parents and family members eventually realize that they need outside professional help. It’s somewhat common for parents to come to the sad conclusion that their child’s behavior has gotten out of control. Under relevant Florida law, the term is “ungovernable.”
Desperate parents seek help with pleas like, “I don’t know what to do with my child anymore.” “He fights at school and I’m in trouble and he won’t listen to me.” “My girlfriend didn’t come home last night.” “I think he’s hanging out with the wrong kids.” Sometimes, “I’m afraid he’s going to hurt me” is scarier. or “I’m worried she’s going to commit suicide.”
These are truly dire scenarios. However, it is not uncommon for our programs to also serve children who have been trafficked, neglected or abused, and even those who have been displaced.
These impactful statewide networks of youth and family services represent a respected national model. Few states have such a unified system for caring for children and supporting families. We are deeply grateful for the vision and wisdom that Florida’s members of Congress and their predecessors have championed on a regular basis. As a result, in true and historic spirit of bipartisanship, legislation was enacted to provide a continuum of services available to families, often in desperate straits.
The good news is that our state is a national model for proactively addressing these issues with a network of foster shelters across the state. Given the data we collect on the significant impact of the children’s services we support across the state, these numbers are surprisingly encouraging in several meaningful ways:
• More than 88% of the children we support return to their homes or appropriate living arrangements.
• More than 90% attend school regularly to learn how to build and achieve a better future.
• Amazingly, 89% of the children our service providers serve do not go “off the rails” or become “delinquent.”
State leaders have consistently recognized that “an ounce of prevention” is indeed worth a pound of cure. In fact, Florida Network has completed three independent research studies on investment returns from groups such as Florida Taxwatch and the Justice Research Center. Most recently, Analytic Initiatives found that for every $1 invested in Florida Network services, there was a return on investment of $9.19. This highlights how important and cost-effective it is to invest in early intervention for children and families in need of services.
If you know a family who is struggling to care for children (ages 6-17), please let them know about the Florida Network website (floridanetwork.org). There, you can find a local provider who can help you with a plan of action that works for your family.
Just last year, we realized approximately $410 million in cost savings through Florida Network Services. Bottom line: Our proven program, supported through active partnerships with state juvenile justice departments, doesn’t have to be expensive. It’s about what they save: the lives of children and the integrity of families.
Stacey Gromacki, president and CEO of the Florida Youth and Family Services Network, believes there is no greater honor than working in a field that strives to ensure that all young people have a path to a bright future. She can be reached at stacy@floridanetwork.org.
