Vision

Investing adequate resources in young children will result in 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 and advocacy to achieve high-quality and accessible early care and education and afterschool services for all children.

Guiding Principles

Good public policy is informed by research. The use of sound research to increase awareness and advocacy on children's issues and the field of child care and early learning is fundamental. Our guiding principles, therefore, are informed by research and best practices:

• Parents are the primary educators of their children; yet some parents face barriers that seriously limit their ability to be effective parents. Proven programs and adequate resources must be available to assist parents in achieving the best possible outcomes for their children.
• The foundation for physical, social and emotional capabilities is largely set during children's first few years of life and is essential to their future cognitive and academic success as well as their ability to function well in society. Children have the right to warm, responsive, and nurturing care from their parents and caregivers.
• Children are entitled to high quality early learning experiences including before and after school enrichment provided both by their parents and by compassionate, knowledgeable, and trained practitioners as well.
• Families of children with disabilities and special health care needs have unique challenges and should have access to services and adequate resources designed to meet their needs and assistance to navigate systems that can help support them.
• Formal education and ongoing professional development for practitioners are critical to the optimum development of children given the correlation between practitioner knowledge, skills, and practices and improved child outcomes for later success.
• Compensation parity for early childhood and afterschool practitioners must be promoted to positively impact recruitment, retention, quality and commitment to the field.
• Collaboration with other local, state, and national organizations/agencies is the most effective strategy for supporting children, families, and practitioners to achieve shared goals.
• Professionalism, accountability, honesty, respect, integrity and excellence are minimum expectations for Forum staff and members of the board of directors.

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 1989 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 not-for-profit organization with an uncompromising vision to create and sustain quality child caring communities, states and countries. This vision is supported by the belief that every young child can and should receive quality education and warm, nurturing, responsive care, particularly those children who are most vulnerable and at risk. To this end, the Forum has consistently demonstrated an ability to efficiently maximize resources as a service-based clearinghouse of information, data, research, advocacy, direct services and training for early care and education. 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, to front line services for vulnerable populations - the Children's Forum has become an experienced and credible leader.