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CHS Blog

Impact in Action

From uplifting family journeys to innovative community partnerships, our blog highlights the progress, purpose, and people powering our mission.

Dolphins’ Alec Ingold earns award for work in adoption, foster care advocacy

MIAMI — Adopted at birth, Miami Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold believes he would have dedicated his time toward helping children and youth in foster care, no matter where his career took him. He had a plan if football didn’t work out; in fact, you could argue that football was Plan B. Around his junior year at Wisconsin, Ingold was […]

‘Adopt them kids!’: Children trade foster-care for forever homes on Palm Beach County’s Adoption Day

WEST PALM BEACH — The weather outside the Palm Beach County Courthouse was as bleak as the mood often is inside, but the line of families filing through the lobby doors looked like a Christmas parade. Children wore colorful dresses and tiny bow ties while the adults balanced gift bags and fitful toddlers over the crooks of their arms. Many had been there before, often for […]

Keeping Families Together after Domestic Violence

We need to talk about the relationship between domestic violence and Florida’s foster care system. It may not shock you to learn that reports of child abuse and neglect often go hand-in-hand with findings of domestic violence. But when a family is in crisis and a child’s safety is at risk, the chaos and trauma […]

LISTEN | “THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT” – CASEAIM TECHNOLOGY

Now Streaming from the Florida Institute of Child Welfare Children’s Home Society of Florida’s (CHS) Morgan Ryan and Brianna Kobayashi talk with Dr. Jessica Pryce about CaseAIM, CHS’ revolutionary technology changing the way child welfare works. Together, with our technology partner Stabilify, we are leading the way in case management innovation. https://soundcloud.com/user-667304189/s5-e1-theres-an-app-for-that-caseaim-technology  

Guide to Home Safety for Kids

June is Home Safety Month and at Children’s Home Society of Florida we work to keep children and families safe both in and out of the home. You may never know what could be a risk, so it’s important that parents work to keep their children safe at home from a variety of items such […]

Reunification Highlight: Jacqueline Perez

For National Reunification Month, we want to shed light on the work and commitment  parents put into getting their children back home. When children enter the child welfare system, the goal for CHS is to help families overcome challenges so they may bring their children home safely. Reunification is possible once a home is deemed […]

National Reunification Month Employee Highlight

For National Reunification Month, we want to recognize the people and efforts that help families stay together. It’s a celebration of the year-round work by parents, family members, social workers, and the community to reunify children with their families. At CHS, employees work closely with families to achieve the goal of reunification. Employees like Sandi […]

Reunification Highlight: Misty

“Silence is definitely different inside your home when your children are not there,” said Misty. With June being National Reunification Month, we want to highlight all of the families who have overcome challenges to successfully bring their children back home safely. Misty is one of those success stories. She had her 5 children removed from […]

Water Safety Tips

Living in the sunshine state means spending the summer months with loved ones by the pool or at the beach. Water can provide fun activities everyone, but it can also pose dangers for children. To keep water activities fun and safe for all, it’s important to establish safety practices to prevent drowning. Here are some […]

Featured Foster Family: Martine Michel

Martine Michel may not have taken the route she intended, but she ended up exactly where she needed to be; a foster parent that has provided a loving and supportive home for 16 kids in the past two years. Martine initially wanted to start a group home. She said it has always been a passion […]

Featured Foster Family: Rose & Melanie Williams

Growing up in the foster care system, Rose Williams knew she wanted to give back to children in need. Her and her wife, Melanie, decided that the best way to do that was to become foster parents. “I always chose that I would always do better than the way that my parents were,” said Rose. […]

Featured Foster Family: Berlyn and Elias Reese

Berlyn and Elias Reese have been providing a loving home for children in need since 1989. Their love for children is what inspired them to begin their fostering journey. After 60 kids, Berlyn lost count of how many they’ve had in their home and believes they’ve taken care of well over 100 children by now. […]

National Child Abuse Prevention Month | How you can help

Last year, 1,578 children who were impacted by allegations of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect in the Greater Lakeland area received care from our local Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC). With April being National Child Abuse Prevention Month, it’s important to highlight the resources in our community that are helping prevent child abuse and neglect. […]

An emergency in child welfare: supporting the frontline

It’s not a top headline or the latest public outrage. It’s a quiet crisis, but one that affects not only the quality of life for kids who enter the foster care system, but also the economic outlook for the entire state. Florida’s child welfare system is understaffed and overwhelmed. Imagine if your local police or […]

Changing the World One Child at a Time | Jennifer’s My CHS Why

Different cultures believe the sunflower is a symbol of anything from positivity and strength to admiration and loyalty.  Jennifer Stenger, a Case Manager with Children’s Home Society of Florida, recently shared how sunflowers became a symbol of connection, commitment and success in her work to serve children. “When I met Amie*, she would not speak […]