Florida

It is the Vision of the Florida Thriving Families Safer Children Team to co-create and transform Florida’s systems to develop a statewide culture of child, youth, and family well-being.

Florida TFSC Priorities:

1. Support and strengthen families through community engagement and increased awareness.
2. Establish a foundation for the integration of child and family well-being into the various state systems that address education, health, safety, and economic and housing stability.
3. Promote the formation of Youth and Parent Advisory Councils in each jurisdiction across the state of Florida.

Additional Information about Florida TFSC:

• Florida Thriving Families Safer Children (TFSC) is supported by the Florida Coalition for Children as the Backbone organization.
• Florida TFSC is comprised of the Statewide Team consisting of 46 individuals who are representatives of 32 Community Based Organizations, Universities, and impacted parents and youth. The statewide team is co-convened by a lived expert and system professional.
• The Florida TFSC structure consists of a statewide committee, three Action Teams, a Core Leadership team, and several subcommittees.
• Each Action Team is centered on one of three priorities and corresponding goals.
  • Action Team 1: Support and Strengthen Families
  • Action Team 2: Child and Family Well Being & Integration
  • Action Team 3: Parent Advisory Council Formation and Leadership Development (PAC)
• The Florida TFSC Core Values are:
• We believe people who have been impacted by the system(s) have critical contextual insight into the problems, cultures, and solutions; therefore, we will co-create, partner, acknowledge and share power with them in all aspects & phases of the work, decisions and provide equitable compensation and other support as needed/appropriate.
• We believe in truth-telling and courageous conversations; therefore, we will hold space to acknowledge harm, embrace other perspectives, and partner together for shared accountability to prevent further harm.
• We believe in the importance of data and information to inform and drive solutions; therefore, we will seek and share information to drive solutions that matter to communities.
• We believe all families and communities have value and unique culture; therefore, we are committed to addressing stigma, practicing humility, active listening, and continuous learning from each other.
• We believe all families have needs and strengths and communities are the source of support; therefore, we will invest in authentic relationships to increase wellbeing so that families can thrive, and families have what they need when they need it.

Partnering with lived experts

• The Florida TFSC is co-convened by a parent with lived experience. Twenty percent of the members are comprised of impacted youth and parents. We are actively prioritizing recruitment and expansion of impacted persons to join the movement.
• Action Team 3 is led by two lived experts and the team is comprised of 70% impacted youth and parents.
• Our core values are centered on promoting the statewide value, recognition and practice of authentic impacted youth and parent engagement and inclusion at all levels from policy to practice and to eradicate tokenism.
• Impacted lived experts are actively engaged and involved in setting strategic direction and decision making.

Centering the work in communities

• The Florida TFSC underwent a reset and redesign 2 years ago when it shifted from a predominantly DCF and system professional convening to a community based/lived expert convening.
• The composition is now made up of 32 community-based organizations and youth and parents with lived experience who are focused on centering the work in the community.
• To accomplish this each Action Team has aggressively focused on capacity building strategic partnerships to embed the work in community.
• We have conducted a statewide gap analysis of community based upstream resources.
• We are geo-mapping communities with Parent leadership and PACs for ease of access and identification for those seeking to become engaged and involved.
• We are building a web-based resource and information center.
• We are engaging and meeting with organizations, leaders, parents. and communities of practice to expand our reach and impact and will be including a guest presenter to share their best practices and to learn more about TFSC at our statewide meeting moving forward.

Emphasizing upstream strategies for prevention, health promotion, and well-being

The Florida TFSC Action Teams have been focused on upstream strategies to promote the well- being of families by:

• Conducting a nationwide analysis of changes and the impact in communities where the mandated reporter verbiage and laws have changed.
• We are exploring ways we can move policy and statute to remove language that results in unnecessary involvement of DCF with families who are experiencing health, housing, and financial insecurities.
• We are seeking to make connections with community to create avenues such as warm lines, concrete supports, peer support, advisory councils, etc. to support families in their time of need at home in their community.
• We are partnering with DCF and policy makers to influence and change the mindset around the cultural practices that promote unnecessary DCF involvement and removal of children from their families when viable alternatives exist.
• We are actively engaged in the development and feedback of the new DCF preservice training curriculum and certification process to ensure the new recruits and trainees are educated and informed of how to engage and support impacted youth and parents and to ensure the culture is one of authentic partnership and engagement.