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The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote, and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county, and community efforts.

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Family and Youth Engagement

Contact: Florida Health

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    Mailing Address

    Florida Health 

    4052 Bald Cypress Way 

    Tallahassee, FL 32399


Family Voice, Engagement and Partnerships

Ensuring that the voices of families are included at all levels is integral to building and strengthening family engagement and partnership within the scope of Children’s Medical Services (CMS) Title V.  Ours is a broad definition of “families”, to include the patient, youth, young adults, parents, siblings, grandparents, foster families, and guardians.

The priority areas for CMS - Title V includes the aspect of patient and family engagement and partnership at the individual, systems, and/or state level:

  • Patient Center Medical Homes
  • Health Care Transition
  • Integrated Behavioral Health

There are many ways CMS - Title V interacts with families as a welcomed addition to the work of our office:

  • Each year we request feedback and information through our annual Parent/Guardian Health Survey.
  • Family representation and perspective is provided on the various short and long term advisory panels, task forces, and work group activities of our office.
  • Family participation is also expected on CMS - Title V - contracted Regional Network Access and Quality centers across the state.
  • CMS - Title V hosts a direct partnership with the MCH-funded University of Florida-Pediatric Pulmonary Center. Through this partnership the Florida Family Leaders Network (FFLN) was developed to sustain a network of family leaders, family-based organizations, and health care champions across the state.
  • CMS - Title V also partners in multiple ways with various stakeholder organizations across the state. These include the Family Network on Disability (FND), which is both Florida's Family Voices and Family-to-Family Health Information Center state affiliate, and The Family Café.

Essential to all the endeavors of CMS - Title V is the work of our statewide and regional Family Leaders.  These staff members bring their lived experience and expertise as parents of children/youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) into our interdisciplinary regional teams and our statewide team.  A next step for CMS-Title V is to broaden our engagement efforts by increasing youth and emerging adult voices within our scope of initiatives.  Please stay tuned for more on this endeavor!

 

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