From left, Florida Senator Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, meets with CCKids Director of
Community Relations Christina Kaiser during a recent trip to Tallahassee. Kaiser
made the trip to advocate on behalf of a special funding request that will help
prevent children from being removed from home.

Special Funding Request Will Keep More Children at Home

January 24, 2024

Port St. Lucie – A proposed program to keep more families together as they navigate the dependency system is receiving support among Florida legislators.

Special funding requests for the program - the Early Services Engagement Program - have been sponsored in the senate by Sen. Gayle Harrell and in the house by Rep. Dana Trabulsy.

But Harrell cautions that the requests have a long and hard road to go before being approved.

In fact more than 2,500 special appropriations requests have been submitted by legislators on behalf of local initiatives, and fewer than 10 percent will likely see funding, Harrell said.

That's because many of those requests would be more appropriately funded by local governments, she said.

The Early Services Engagement Program is not one of those. That's because the state is ultimately responsible for children in Florida's network of 20 dependency/child welfare systems.

So what is the Early Services Intervention Program?

"It's designed to prevent children from being removed from their home," said CCKids Chief Operating Officer Cheri Sheffer.

There are two major parts to the child protective services system. There's child protective investigations, which is handled by the state Department of Children and Families. And there are dependency case management services, which is provided by Communities Connected for Kids.

CPI’s have a complex job identifying risk and providing immediate safety actions to prevent removals, Sheffer said. Sometimes, the number of diverse and complex investigations makes it challenging to move each case expeditiously to case management services.

"The early engagement program will allow us to engage more immediately in this extremely high risk scenario, and provide more comprehensive oversight of the families that are most at risk of removal while the CPI finalizes the required elements of their investigation."

CCKids' program is based on a successful model in Jacksonville that has already received considerable support among legislators.

"Keeping children in home by helping their families with early access to intensive services reduces trauma and improves outcomes for children and families and for the community of care," Sheffer said.

Communities Connected for Kids' advocacy team divided and conquered last
week; Christina Kaiser, community relations director, met with legislators in
Tallahassee while the rest of the team - CEO Carol Deloach, COO Cheri Sheffer
and CFO Lauren Hahn - remained at home on the Treasure Coast to meet a state
deadline for our system of care's contract renewal. Pictured above are Rep. John
Snyder, R-Stuart, Christina Kaiser, and Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach.