Healthy Families Services:
One of the greatest threats to Florida’s children is abuse and neglect.  Annually, there are approximately 3,000 reported cases of child abuse and neglect in Sarasota County. Statewide, over 110,000 children were abused or neglected in fiscal year 2008-09.  Parenting is a difficult and challenging job, and many parents have not had the opportunity to learn effective parenting skills.  To help combat this problem, The Florida Center is part of the state’s Healthy Families initiative to prevent child abuse and neglect before it starts.  Services are offered to families prenatally or at the birth of the baby and are available until the child turns five.  The program equips parents with the knowledge and skills they need to create stable home environments so their children can grow up healthy, safe, nurtured and ready to succeed in school and in life.  It can cost Florida’s taxpayers over $64,000 a year to care for an abused child.  Healthy Families prevents child abuse and neglect for $1,671 a year per child, saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

The Florida Center serves approximately 800 families each year through the Healthy Families Sarasota , Healthy Families DeSoto/Hardee, and Healthy Families Charlotte programs.  All programs are accredited by Prevent Child Abuse America/Healthy Families America.

Healthy Families Sarasota:
Healthy Families Sarasota is contracted to serve 361 families, and served 488 total families during the past fiscal year.  Services are provided in the South County areas of Laurel/Nokomis, Venice and North Port, and to almost all of North Sarasota County. HF Sarasota was recently recognized as the Healthy Families Florida Large Project of the Year.

Healthy Families DeSoto/Hardee:
Healthy Families DeSoto/Hardee is contracted to serve 93 families, and served 127 total families from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011.  Services are provided county-wide in DeSoto County, and to targeted zip codes in Hardee County (33873 and 33890).  HF DeSoto/Hardee was recently recognized as the Healthy Families Florida Medium-Sized Project of the Year. 

Healthy Families Charlotte:
Healthy Families Charlotte is contracted to serve 116 families, and served 142 total families from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011.  Services are provided county-wide in Charlotte County.  Healthy Families Charlotte won the Healthy Families Florida award for Highest Participant Retention Rate in 2008 and has been recognized for Community Health Excellence by The Blue Foundation for a Healthy Florida.

• Healthy Families is sponsored by the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida and the State of Florida Department of Children and Families and, in partnership with: Sarasota County Contracted Human Services, United Way of South Sarasota County, All Star Children’s Foundation, and Charlotte County United Way.





For more information on Healthy Families Florida, visit their website at www.healthyfamiliesfla.org.