Duval County
Landscape Study

In July 2021, Grace Landing contracted with the Florida Department of Children and Families to conduct a landscape study reviewing the Duval County child welfare system. After completing a document and data search on Duval County, 14 persons from 14 community organizations were interviewed.

The goal for conducting the study was to establish a quantitative and qualitative baseline for the prevention and quality placement services provided to children and families. This baseline will serve as a benchmark for our Duval Quality Placement and Prevention Index Annual Report.

The key findings are as follows:

1. Many families are struggling with life controlling issues at higher averages and children in Duval County are being impacted negatively.

2. The Community Based Care lead agency has been successful in their statutory task of caring for children in NE Florida based on key state and national metrics.

3. Florida state executive leadership has created innovative policies and funding streams to promote the goals of child welfare.

4. Public healthcare systems have expressed a willingness to collaborate with the community-based faith and civic organizations and child welfare agencies to promote volunteerism and community engagement.

5. Civic community leaders have similarly expressed a willingness to collaborate with the faith community and the child welfare agencies to support evidence-based models of care.

6. The faith community represents the most significant resource of volunteers and potential foster parents in the community and are keen to engage evidence-based strategies to deal with the foster care crisis.

7. Formal county and regional systems of care present as closed systems that exclude community leaders outside of their formal system to participate in the task of protecting the children of NE Florida.

The key recommendations of the study are as follows:

• The establishment of a Coalition for Children First in NE Florida that incorporates all these community based civil society networks.

• Tasking the Coalition to:

  • Explore the implementation of the National Court Watch Project

  • Produce and publish a third-party caregiver satisfaction survey

  • Publish quarterly Placement Quality Reports using the Quality Placement Index to evaluate CFSR data compliance in NE Florida

  • Develop faith-based Family Advocacy Centers in select communities and neighborhoods to coordinate local resources for families to prevent child abuse and promote healthy family

  • Promote promising practices and evidence-based Fatherhood Initiatives and explore opportunities for collaboration between faith community, child welfare, public health, and civic community

Click here to download the full report.