Services Offered

Children struggling with diagnosed mental health challenges receive help, hope and guidance through our behavioral healthcare program. We work closely families to connect them with the right community resources and counseling to help children thrive in their own homes. We also help children receiving help in residential treatment facilities by advocating for their unique needs so they receive necessary services to help them work through challenges and find hope for the future.

Family Services Planning Team
The goal of the Family Services Planning Team is to locate and possibly fund community-based services for children under age 18 who have behavioral and emotional problems. The Family Services Planning Team strives to keep children stable in their homes.

Targeted Case Management
Targeted Case Management provides support services so children with behavioral and emotional problems can remain safely in their homes.  A Targeted Case Manager works with the child's caregiver to assess needs, create a service plan, and coordinate and link the client with more in-depth services. These can include individual, family and group counseling; behavior analysis; psychological and psychiatric evaluations; medication monitoring; and mentoring.  If out-of-home placement is appropriate, the child is referred to a variety of programs and agencies that provide more intensive care.  The child's Targeted Case Manager is the primary advocate for his or her mental health needs.

For more information about Family Services Planning Team or Targeted Case Management, contact Lara Carpenter at (321) 752-3170 ext. 258.

Children suffering from depression, anxiety, family transition, grief and loss, anger management, abuse, infant mental health and many other issues find hope and help through personalized in-home counseling provided by our Clinical Services, which reaches children from birth to age 17 and their families.

Clients can make self-referrals to the program or can be referred by community agencies. Many payment options are available including Medicaid, Amerigroup, Healthy Kids, Staywell/HealthEase, United, and Child Welfare Prepaid Mental Health Plan. Payment plans and Family Services Support Team funding are also available.

Contact Michele Wiersma at 321-752-3170 ext. 252 with questions about Clinical Services.

When children have suffered abuse or neglect, they receive care, guidance and hope as they begin the healing process with our Dependency Case Management program. Focusing on the safety and well-being of children, we work with local agencies and the court system to determine the best path for each child. When appropriate, we work intensely with families so parents may learn how to provide a safe, loving, nurturing home while strengthening their relationships with their children. If children are unable to ever safely return home, we help find loving families eager to embrace them through adoption, foster care or kinship care. Our focus is on securing the most appropriate services and permanent living arrangements for children within 12 months.

A dependency case manager is assigned to a child after a report of abuse or neglect is verified by an investigator from the Florida Department of Children and Families.

If you suspect that a child is being abused or neglected, please call the Florida Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-962-2873 or submit a report online.

Teen girls unable to live with traditional foster families because of the severe abuse, neglect and loss they’ve previously suffered find safety, security, love and encouragement at Hacienda Girls Ranch, our residential group care home and emergency shelter. Embraced by a nurturing “family,” the girls, ages 12 to 17, receive educational support, mental health counseling, guidance and direction on how to live independently, and recreational opportunities. As we help the girls heal from past traumas, we guide them toward futures of positive decision-making and opportunities to thrive.  Our goal is to achieve permanency through reunification with their biological families, placement in foster homes or with adoptive families, or through transition to independence.

Hacienda Girls Ranch was founded by GFWC Florida (General Federation of Women's Clubs) in the early 1970s.  Though Hacienda Girls Ranch is now owned and operated by Children's Home Society of Florida, we remain a statewide project of GFWC Florida.  Members are incredibly supportive through financial contributions, donations of supplies for the home, and through volunteer service.

For more information about Hacienda Girls Ranch, contact Laura Zamjahn at (321) 752-3170 ext. 281 or email laura.zamjahn@chsfl.org.

Pregnant women may receive voluntary in-home services through Healthy Start to prepare for the birth of their baby and to learn how to provide a safe, loving home. Many women in the program suffered abuse or neglect as children, have a limited support system, and/or are low-income, though the program is open to any pregnant woman needing extra support. Working to reduce infant mortality rates and poor pregnancy outcomes, we help women understand proper pre-natal care, and services continue after the baby’s birth to help prevent child abuse and neglect before it occurs.

Participation in the Healthy Start program is not income-based; it is solely based on risk factors present and is completely voluntary. There is no fee to participate in the program. 

Healthy Start services include pregnancy and infant care education, case management, smoking cessation for families, referral to free childbirth classes for pregnant women, and developmental screenings for infants. The Healthy Start program works with pregnant women up to eight weeks post-partum and infants and children up to age 1; the program may extend services up to age 3 when necessary.

Pregnant women can complete a Healthy Start questionnaire at their doctor’s office. Babies are also screened for the need for Healthy Start services at birth. Families can also call to self-refer for services.

For more information about Healthy Start, contact Donna Skinner at (321) 752-3170 ext 230.

Young women ages 18 to 23 who are homeless and/or have “aged out” of foster care may live in safe, apartment-style homes available through our transitional living home. Offering secure, affordable housing in a supportive environment, the program also provides young women with educational and career guidance and support along with basic life skills training, such as budgeting, cooking and cleaning.

Eligible female participants must be between the ages of 18 and 23 and meet low-income guidelines.  Residents share a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate.  Reasonable rent includes utilities and laundry facilities.  Supportive services include case management, financial planning, educational/vocational planning and life skills training.

For more information, contact Laura Zamjahn at (321) 752-3170 ext. 281.