Vision

Florida's citizens, by investing adequate resources in young children, will have stronger families and communities prepared to succeed in a competitive global economy and accept the responsibilities of good citizenship.

Mission Statement

The Children's Forum provides leadership, education, services and advocacy to achieve accessible, affordable, quality child care and early learning services for all children and assists organizations in meeting their goals for children and families.

The Forum's History

The Forum has an organizational history that is grounded in the development of principles, programs and policies that continue to serve early childhood development and education in Florida. In 1975, a group of child care providers recognized the need to organize their efforts so that consistent quality care could be provided for low-income children. This was achieved through a contractual relationship between the providers and the state's Florida Department of Children and Families (originally the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services). They called themselves the Child Care Providers Forum.

In 1988, another organizational group was formed called Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. Membership was comprised of many of the same organizations as the Child Care Providers Forum and their purpose was to provide child care resource and referral services to the public, obtain corporate support, and advocate for quality improvements in early care and education. Within the year, the need to assist Florida's Families seeking child care services became so apparent that in 1989 the Florida Legislature created a statewide Child Care Resource and Referral Network. In response to this need, the two organizations merged and in 1990 the Children's Forum became incorporated as a private, not-for-profit organization. The newly formed organization applied for and was awarded the contract to administer/operate the statewide network for child care resource and referral.

Today, the Forum continues to serve as a statewide, not-for-profit organization with an uncompromising vision to make Florida a quality child caring state. This vision is supported by the belief that every young child in the state can, and should, receive quality education and care. To this end, the Forum has consistently demonstrated an ability to efficiently maximize resources as a service-based clearinghouse of information, data, research, advocacy and training for the state's early care and learning industry. From an impressive list of information-packed publications, to a content rich Web site; from a growing network of child care professionals to specialized conferences, trainings and technical assistance initiatives - the Children's Forum has become an experienced and credible industry leader.