Services Offered

This service provides archival preservation of adoption records for clients who received traditional adoption services through CHS. By request, and for a nominal fee, adult adoptees can obtain non-identifying information that was available at the time of adoption. The service also provides search-and-reunion services for members of the adoption triad (birthparent, adoptee or adoptive parent) who desire to make contact.

Counseling is offered to birth mothers and birth fathers about their options. Birth parents also receive assistance with decision-making and planning for the mother and child. Medical care, housing and financial assistance may also be provided.

CHS is a provider of Medicaid-funded mental health services by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

Psychiatric Services: Board Certified Child Psychiatrists provide psychiatric evaluations, medication and treatment services, and oversight of clinical services.

In-Home Clinical Services: Experienced master’s level counselors provide Intensive Therapeutic On-site Services (ITOS) for youth placed in foster homes.

Behavioral Health Overlay Services: Child-specific, medically necessary mental health and substance abuse services are provided daily to all residents in CHS group care.

CHS' Bucnker Division provides full-service child welfare case management services for approximately 366 youth in foster care as part of Community Based Care. All case managers are trained and certified by the Department of Children and Families. Responsibilities include all aspects of the delivery of foster care services including family service planning, permanency planning, judicial reviews, oversight of child placements in out-of-home care and recruitment of adoptive homes.

CHS has 37 local homes licensed for foster care through the following services:

Pre-Adoptive Foster Care for infants awaiting adoptive placement while legal work is finalized.

Medically Needy Foster Care for children with complex medical problems. Specialized medical foster homes provide day-to-day care for these children.

Therapeutic Foster Care for children with serious emotional and behavioral problems as a result of physical and/or sexual abuse trauma. Foster parents receive special training and work closely with a child psychiatrist, a therapist and a case manager to provide individualized and coordinated care.
 

This program provides parenting education and support to the general community and to the high-risk and court-ordered parenting population. Participants improve parenting skills that help to reduce the risk of child abuse.

This voluntary child abuse prevention program is designed to promote positive parenting, child health and development, and reduce child abuse and neglect and other poor childhood outcomes. The program provides intensive home-visiting services and linkages to family support services like health care, childcare and counseling.

This program provides free and voluntary supportive services to low-risk pregnant women referred by their physicians. Skilled Family Support Workers spend time with the women to ensure a healthy pregnancy. Services include referral to childbirth education classes, information and referrals to community resources, and follow-up telephone contact throughout the pregnancy.

This program provides comprehensive services and ongoing resources for adoptive families that experience challenges. To ensure the success of the family, services are available to families after the adoption has been legally finalized and before the adopted child turns 18. Services include counseling, case management, parent education, support groups and a newsletter.

This program is for young mothers (ages 15 – 18) in the foster care system who have a child under 18 months. The home allows the girls and their babies to stay in the same household and works with the girls to prevent future abuse and neglect. The young mothers, themselves victims of abuse and neglect, receive special skills training to prepare them for parenthood and independence.

This program provides therapy to children and teenagers who have been sexually abused by a primary caregiver. Children are usually in group and/or individual therapy for one year. Non-offending caregivers also attend therapy in an adult group.

This program, housed in our newly renovated home, helps abused and neglected teen girls. Goals include reducing displacements, improving academic achievement, helping children feel protected and providing an environment for therapeutic treatment of victimization and trauma. This group care facility includes an independent living environment for youth working toward self-sufficiency. The girls have their own rooms in a “dorm-like” environment while they complete their education and prepare for life beyond foster care.

This residence houses 12 abused and neglected foster care children ages 4 – 12 with serious behavior problems who are in need of temporary care. Many of these children have severe emotional and behavioral problems due to histories of sexual and physical abuse. Our Terry Center provides a safe, nurturing home for the children while the parents attempt to complete their court-ordered case plans to reunite their families. For some of the children, parental rights have been terminated and other permanency options are being explored.
 

CHS has been Florida’s most trusted adoption organization for more than a century. A full range of adoption services is offered in our new Louise Jackson Adoption Center, including the voluntary placement of infants, international adoptions and the placement of children with special needs. Extensive recruitment efforts are made to locate families, and prospective adoptive families receive education about adoption issues. Post-placement services are offered to support families following the placement of a child and prior to the legal finalization of the adoption.