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Children's Home Society of Florida (CHS)

Children's Home Society of Florida (CHS) has passionately pursued a mission to embrace children and inspire lives for more than a century. As one of the oldest and largest statewide private, nonprofit children welfare agencies, CHS works to protect children while cultivating safe, loving families and a new paths of hope for abused children. CHS is a nationally accredited organization, making a difference in the lives of children and families across Florida. Established in *1902* as a Jacksonville orphanage, CHS has dramatically expanded its mission as a statewide multi-service agency.

The Central Florida Division has served *Orange, Osceola, and Seminole Counties* since 1963. Our *20 local programs* include emergency shelter for abused children, supervised family visitation, at-risk parent education, special needs adoption, foster care, case management, mentoring and a full range of outpatient counseling services for children and families.

We have *230 employees* in Central Florida serving our community in *7 service locations*. Our division budget is *$13.7 million *and* 88% goes towards our programs and service*s. Our fundraising and advocacy efforts are governed by a group of *19 elite board members*. We also have a statewide fiduciary board of directors. Last fiscal year CHS served over *10,000* *children *(in addition to their parents, siblings and other family members).

Beyond caring for our struggling families that are in desperate need, CHS provides homes for vulnerable parentless children through foster care, adoption, and home-like shelter at the Crisis Nursery. The Crisis Nursery is a 24-hour temporary emergency shelter that provides safe harbor for children ages birth through eleven that have been abandoned, abused, or neglected. With open arms, children are loved, fed, clothed, taken to school, given a full medical attention, and provided with therapeutic counseling.

These traumatized youngsters arrive at our door at all hours of the day and night. Often, children come to our shelters with few personal items and thanks to the generosity of the community CHS can outfit them with a couple of outfits, a toy and shoes. Many children come to us with a severe history of abuse such as the little 3-year-old boy with over 32 human bite marks all over his little body or the little boy who had 3^rd degree burns from his diaper rash because his neglectful parents did not change him for days.

At CHS, we envision a day where the cycle of abuse will be broken and all children will be safe.