Frequently Asked Questions

If you are an eligible requester, complete the Request Form

Standard requests are reviewed each week on Friday morning by our request committee. Following the committee meeting, each Requester is notified via email on the same day or next business day. For emergency, time-sensitive requests, contact the office at [email protected] or at 727-582-3609 to receive immediate consideration. 

We support children in Pinellas & Pasco Counties who have been removed from their homes due to abuse, abandonment, or neglect. We also serve children for whom the Child Protection Investigation Division of the Sheriffs Offices of Pinellas and Pasco Counties have received reports of abuse, abandonment or neglect, and who are at risk of being removed from their homes.

Prevention is at the core of Suncoast Voices for Children’s work within the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.  While it is sometimes necessary for children to be removed from their parents for their safety, placement within foster care often takes children away from their schools, friends, and extracurricular activities.  For this reason, the Sheriff’s Office always seeks to place children with a safe and loving extended family member.  However, family members often do not 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 works quickly to provide these families with beds and keep children out of foster care.  In 2018 alone, we provided over 1,000 children with safe beds.  Additionally, the single greatest cause of unnecessary death of infants is due to sleeping with other children or adults in the same bed. Every child needs a safe and restful sleep to do well in school and life. Read more about our vision by exploring our More Than A Bed Project!

Fewer than half of children removed from their homes participate in extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities allow children to express their frustrations and anger, distract their minds from the turmoil of their situation, and build positive relationships with other kids and adults. It gives them the chance to simply be a kid, which is something we believe every kid should experience.

Children are often moved from placement to placement, entering new schools, meeting new teachers, and adding travel time to their school days. When this happens, they often fall a letter grade for each move, or lose up to an entire year of instruction. Less than half of children in foster care earn a high school diploma, and less than 3% earn a bachelor’s degree or higher. We want to help them succeed academically so they can succeed in life, and be less likely to fall into poverty or incarceration.