About Florida's Children First

Who We Are

Florida’s Children First, Inc. was founded in 2001 by attorneys from across Florida who were working on issues affecting Florida’s most vulnerable children. The founders came from private practice, law school clinics and legal aid organizations. They knew that if they combined their resources and worked together they could achieve greater reform in the systems that affect children. With assistance from the Florida Bar Foundation they formed Florida’s Children First as a non-profit legal services organization.

Today, the FCF Board and Advisory Board are comprised of attorneys, subject-matter experts and other professionals who lend their time and talent to make FCF successful.

FCF staff, board members, volunteers, and advocates devote their time to ensure that each child in care or in an at-risk situation will have a voice that is heard when decisions are made. We use legislative and policy advocacy, executive branch education and advocacy, training and technical assistance to lawyers and Guardians Ad Litem representing children, public awareness, and filing of amicus briefs as strategies to improve child serving systems.

An estimated 43,480 children are in the custody of DCF.
Florida is last among all 50 states in high school graduation rates.
As of 6/15/07, over 592 children in state custody are missing.
Over 1200 foster care youth leave custody each year. They are immediately dismissed from the care and protection of the state upon turning eighteen without learning the life skills most children learn in stable homes.
More than half the children in therapeutic foster care are on psychotropic medications. Children as young as one year old are given these mind altering drugs that have not been approved for children.
Children in foster care change schools two or three times a year. This instability leads to lower grades and an inability to participate in school activities.
According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, in 2003, there were 32.3 victims of maltreatment per 1,000 children in Florida. The same study determined that 8.8 percent of the children were re-abused within six months.
An estimated 20% of children and youth in foster care are developmentally disabled and may not be receiving proper services.

What we Do

All children have the right to food, clothing, housing, education, medical care, property and personal privacy. Most children have parents who take care of their needs and protect their rights. But tens of thousands of children in Florida rely on state agencies to meet some or all of their needs. FCF exists to protect the rights of those children.

FCF works to improve the government systems that exist to serve children. We do this in several ways:

Executive Branch Advocacy
Legal Advocacy
Legislative Advocacy
Procedural Rule Advocacy
Support for Former Foster Youth
Training and Support of Attorneys

Our primary work is with children in state custody, either because their parents are accused of having done something wrong [dependency - Chp 39] or because the children are accused of having done something wrong [delinquency - Chp 985]. We also work on issues for children who have disabilities and children who are immigrants.

We are concerned with systemic issues in the following areas:

FCF is part of the Florida system for delivery of legal services to the poor. We are primarily funded by the Florida Bar Foundation and private donations with significant grants from other foundations. We are able to accomplish tremendous results by operating with a small staff, an active board, advisory board, numerous volunteers and financial supporters.