Suncoast Voices For Children | Pinellas & Pasco Counties, FL | Prevent | Protect

Suncoast Voices for Children

Providing for the unmet needs of children in foster care in Pinellas and Pasco Counties.

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Children served by Suncoast Voices in the 20-21 Year

Dollars Raised Since 2004

Of Requests Within Our Mission Met

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What We Do

Suncoast Voices for Children provides for the unmet physical, psychological, educational, and social needs of abused, abandoned, and neglected children in Pinellas and Pasco Counties. We are one of the few non-profit organizations that works on the front end to be the voice for every vulnerable child. We work with the Sheriff’s Department Child Protection Investigators, Case Managers, and Guardians Ad Litem to keep kids out of the dependency system, meet their needs while in the system, and give them what they need to succeed once outside the system. Our strategy is based around these three fundamental actions:

Prevent

Suncoast Voices seeks to prevent children from entering foster care in the first place. While it is sometimes necessary for safety reasons to remove children from their parents due to abuse or neglect, the disruption to children’s lives is immeasurable. Placement in foster care often takes children away from their schools, friends, sports, and extracurricular activities. Safe, protective extended family members do not often have the resources to get a bed and childcare supplies on an emergency basis. As the only non-profit organization in the Sheriff’s Office, Suncoast Voices for Children can quickly provide these families with supplies to safely keep children out of foster care.

Protect

According to the Pinellas County Medical Examiner, in the past 4 years, there have been over 30 sleep-related infant deaths in Pinellas County due to unsafe sleep environments. Infants are 40 times more likely to die in adult beds than in their own cribs, and nearly 74% of deaths in babies younger than 4 months happened in a bed-sharing situation. In July 2013, Florida passed legislation requiring parents to have safe sleep arrangements when they are discharged from the hospital with a newborn. Since this much-needed legislative change, Suncoast Voices for Children provides more beds each year, with about 1,000 in 2018. In addition to safe bedding, we supplied car seats and other safety equipment to over 500 children in 2018.

Provide

Children in foster care want more than anything to have a “normal” childhood. The state provides the essentials of food and shelter, but there is no funding for experiences, hobbies, and developing skills. We don’t want any child to miss out on anything that every child should get to enjoy! Suncoast Voices wants them to make friends, have experiences, find hobbies, develop skills, and just be a kid, as much as they can. We provide everything from private tutoring to dance lessons, summer camp tuition to laptops, shoes to school uniforms, sports fees to music lessons, birthday cakes to eyeglasses, and more; when children have so little, even the smallest intervention can profoundly impact their lives!

Be A Voice

Suncoast Voices for Children is stationed in the Pinellas and Pasco County Sheriff’s Offices, providing for the needs of abused and neglected children. While support for children in foster care is needed, safely preventing children from entering foster care in the first place leads to better outcomes. Young people who were formerly in foster care are also far more likely to endure homelessness, poverty, compromised health, unemployment and incarceration as adults. That’s why Voices helps to prevent children from entering foster care and, when that’s not possible, provides for both basic needs and fun to let our kids be kids.

With your help, we can keep children placed safely with family members and provide for their needs when no one else can. You can sponsor the needs of children when they are at their lowest, most difficult time. When you’re their Voice, they will know that someone is listening, and that someone cares.

They Need Our Help

THE NEED IS GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE .

Pinellas and Pasco Counties now have the highest number of children in foster care in Florida.

Every day in the state of Florida, an average of 39 children are removed from their homes due to neglect, abuse, unfit parenting, or abandonment, and these numbers are increasing every day. Due to the distressing effects of changing schools and homes on an average of every six months, less than half of children in foster care earn a high school diploma, and less than 3% earn a bachelor’s degree or higher. More than half are not able to participate in sports or extracurricular activities, and they are far more likely to endure homelessness, poverty, compromised health, emotional attachment disorders, unemployment, and incarceration after aging out of the system. Partnering with Suncoast Voices For Children means assisting in providing for the basic unmet needs of these children, such as clothing and beds. Please donate today and help change a child’s life.

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Suncoast Stories

Fitting In

Andy is 15 and 6’3”. His family was living in a tent, and Andy became embarrassed to go to school because the other kids knew his living situation and he always smelled bad. Suncoast Voices provided Andy with food, shirts, pants, underwear, socks and shoes, laundry detergent, and personal hygiene items, as well as help with laundering clothes, so he could go to school without feeling ashamed about his life situation that he can’t control.

Suncoast Stories

When Santa Doesn’t Make It

Jenny is four-years-old and living with a non-relative friend who took her in when she was removed from parents that neglected her. She asked Santa for a tricycle, but it never arrived, and she wants to play with her cousins, but their bikes are too big for her. Suncoast Voices used donations from people just like you to give Jenny a Frozen tricycle of her own.

Suncoast Stories

Keeping Babies Safe

One grandma took in three children when one of their fathers was found in a hotel room with the sleeping baby next to a gun and a bag of drugs. The second father broke into Grandma’s home and tried to take the infant, and the other also broke in by busting down the door. Suncoast Voices bought door and window alarms to protect the safety of everyone in the house.

Suncoast Stories

Helping Single Dads Stay Afloat

Suncoast Voices, through generous contributions from our donors, was able to provide a crib and a baby swing for a newborn girl who was place in the custody of her father when her mother was rendered unable to care for her because of severe mental health issues. The loving dad is renting a room and trying to work more to be able to financially support his child, but he can’t afford everything she needs, so the items from Suncoast Voices were invaluable to her well-being and his peace of mind.

Suncoast Stories

Dental Attention

Bella is four and has been neglected most of her life. Before entering foster care, she never saw a dentist or had medical attention, and she possibly had never had a toothbrush in her mouth. When she entered foster care, the extent of her dental problems was discovered. A pediatric dentist determined she needed six teeth extracted, three teeth filled, and two spacers fixed, as well as a surgery to remove a painful abscess in her mouth that was making it difficult for her to eat. Sunshine Medicaid would not cover the cost of the surgery because it required anesthesia, so Suncoast Voices, with the help of our generous donors, stepped up and covered the entire cost so Bella could have relief.

Suncoast Stories

Unexpected Change

A few days before Thanksgiving, Benjamin and Brian, ten-year-old twins, were abandoned suddenly by their parents, who made no attempt to contact them. They have been placed with an aunt who only had camping cots for them to sleep on and no funds to purchase beds. Suncoast Voices gave them a set of twin beds and comfortable bedding to provide them with some small sense of normalcy in all of the transition.

Suncoast Stories

Filling Hearts And Holes

Four-year-old Didi was found the day before her 5th birthday by a Child Protection Investigator, living with her homeless mother on her mother’s friend’s couch. She had only one dress, that was full of holes, and one toy. Her first question to the CPI was if she knew how to sew. Because of donations we receive from people just like you, Suncoast Voices was able to give Didi a birthday party, with a real cake, new toys, and new shoes and clothes - without holes.

Suncoast Stories

Safe Haven

James, who is transgender, was abused by his family. He experienced extreme Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which led to sleep disturbances, panic attacks, anger issues, unrestricted crying, anxiety, paranoia, and horribly depleted self-esteem. He was homeless for some time, and didn’t attempt to communicate with his parents. James persevered, and is now headed for a college education! He has his own place to live, but he has no furniture. Because of the generosity of our donors and our community partner New2UThriftStore, Suncoast Voices was able to provide $400 towards furniture and appliances, so James can create his own home that is safe from hate.

Suncoast Stories

Running Shoes

Fourteen-year-old Anthony was abandoned by his mother and is unable to be cared for by his homeless father. He lives in a group home where many abused children go when they are older than prospective adoptive parents will generally take in. He wanted to join the track team, but had no one to pay for his running shoes, so Suncoast Voices provided what he needed through the support of donors like you!

Suncoast Stories

Keeping Siblings Together

Jack, Tom, and Heather (ages eight, ten, and twelve) were removed from their mother because she left them alone more than eight hours a day, and they were often seen outside playing unattended by bodies of water. They now live in separate group homes. Thanks to donations from donors just like you, Suncoast Voices was able to send them to summer camp together, where they will learn how to swim and play, with supervision!

Suncoast Stories

Emergency Responses

A fire in one house endangered three-month-old twins, who were born prematurely and already had significant breathing issues. While the medical personnel treated them for smoke damage, Suncoast Voices was contacted by Child Protection Investigators to provide them and their two-year-old brother with new clothing and blankets (which had been destroyed in the fire). We were able to give them what they needed immediately, thanks to donors like you!

Suncoast Stories

Beds Of Their Own

Three children (ages twelve, six, and seven months) were removed from their parents’ home because of substance abuse and domestic violence. These precious kids were sent to live in Grandma and Grandpa’s crowded three bedroom house, which was inhabited by no less than seven other people at the time. They found themselves sleeping wherever they could find room (the floor, the couch, etc.). Suncoast Voices was able to give all three children beds of their own through the generous donations of caring people!

Suncoast Stories

Sports And Healing

Daniel, Darlene, and Davey (ages ten, eight, and four) were abandoned by their mother after their dad was sent to prison for domestic violence, and were sent to live with Grandma and three other children. Often, children that witness violence experience a form of PTSD and need to process it through positive physical activity. Thanks to Suncoast Voices and our donors, Daniel will play on a rec flag football team, while Darlene and Davey will play soccer! We purchased cleats and uniforms, and paid the team fees, so that they could have fun, expend their energy, and build healthy relationships with other kids and coaches.

Suncoast Stories

After-school Activities

Five-year-old Lily was removed from her mother and now lives with her single father. She wanted to play baseball with the other kids after school, but lacked cleats, and her father could not afford them. Her case worker reached out to Suncoast Voices, who was able to give her new cleats (thanks to donor support) so she could participate!

Suncoast Stories

From Dissonance To Harmony

Anna Lisa was removed from her parents at age 12, and sent to live with Grandma and three other siblings. She is a talented violinist, but had outgrown the instrument the school had been providing. Because of donations we received, Suncoast Voices was able to give her a violin of her own that was the right size and quality for her musical ability, so she can keep developing her talent and cope with her pain through music!

Suncoast Stories

Solid Start

Tiffany turned 18, and is now transitioning out of the foster care system. 20% of children who age out become instantly homeless, and Suncoast Voices (along with our community partner New2UThriftStore) was able to provide items such as appliances and furniture for Tiffany’s apartment so that she did not join that number.

Suncoast Stories

A Night To Remember

The costly nature of senior year is something that foster kids simply can’t afford. Suncoast Voices gave two 17-year-old girls living in foster care tickets for the prom, prom dresses and shoes, and hair and makeup accessories so they could have a special evening even though their families were torn apart by trauma.

How You Can Help

You can make a difference in the lives of these children. We receive no federal or state government funding, so in order for us to keep helping kids, we need people just like you to give to our mission. When you support children in need through Suncoast Voices for Children, you invest in a local cause that aids vulnerable children who have been separated from their families and helps prevent other children from becoming vulnerable. We have many ways you can partner with us to achieve our goals!