Florida Children's Summit
Spring 2006BACKGROUND
Florida's commitment to its children and families has never been fully articulated and broadly advanced.
As a result, public policies attempting to address the most significant problems facing our children and
their families - while well intentioned - consist of a hodge-podge of programs and initiatives that may be
effective on an individual, programmatic level, but fail to embrace a holistic and comprehensive approach
to addressing the multi-faceted and inter-related issues facing children and families.
The purpose of the 2006 Florida Children's Summit is to create a shared vision of the State of Florida's commitment to its children and families. It will launch a long-term process to develop and implement strategies for moving the shared vision forward in 2007 and beyond, including specific legislative policy recommendations. Our hope is that by working together and with policymakers we can create a more collaborative system to support the well-being of all of Florida's children and families.
The 2006 Florida Children’s Summit will create a new construct for how we talk about our children and families, recognizing that we must address their needs holistically and within the context of all of the special interest areas represented at the Summit. Participants will identify their particular area of interest when registering for the Summit. At this historic event, Summit participants will - for the first time ever at the state level - break out of their own programmatic silos, engage in intense discussions with representatives from all other issue areas, and - together - develop priorities and commitments that Florida must make to its children and families as we move forward in the 21st century.
LEGISLATIVE LEADERSHIP
Legislative leadership is key to the 2006 Florida Children's Summit success. Arising out of an
IdeaRaiser convened during 2006 Children's Week at the State Capitol, which took place midway
through the 2006 Florida legislative session, the Summit is the brainchild of the 30+ partners that made
this year's Children's Week a success, and follows in the footsteps of a Children's Legislative Summit
sponsored by The Children's Trust and spearheaded by Rep. J.C. Planas in Miami last January.
The IdeaRaiser was among several held around the state by Rep. Marco Rubio (R-Miami-Dade), incoming Speaker of the Florida House. Reps. J.C. Planas (R-Miami-Dade) and Loranne Ausley (D-Leon) facilitated the session. In anticipation of a Children's Summit that could change the face of public policy for the state's children and families, Sens. Nan Rich (D-Broward) and Durell Peaden (R-Escambia) are joining Reps. Planas and Ausley as legislative sponsors of the event. Their leadership and commitment will help ensure that public policy recommendations developed at the Summit are actively considered by the 2007 Legislature and incorporated into state public policy for years to come.
PLANNING PROCESS
More than 30 Children's Week partners and other organizations are recruiting additional partners,
representing the spectrum of children from before birth to age 18 and family services. These partners are
providing their thoughts on preliminary "Commitment Issues" -- issues that represent what the State should
be willing to commit to all children and families. The Commitment Issues encompass general areas of policy
that directly impact the well-being of our children and their families, such as "Health Care," "Early Care
and Education" and "Freedom from Abuse and Neglect." The Commitment Issues will be vetted by the partners to
form the final set of Commitment Issues to be taken to the Summit for participants to consider.
In conjunction with each Commitment Issue, partners are providing up to three public policy priorities, which will be condensed into a manageable set of preliminary priorities to be considered at the Summit.
The Summit will provide a forum through which participants can consider the final Commitment Issues and public policy priorities and select priorities for the 2007 Florida legislative session and beyond.
GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES
The Summit will take place at the Orlando/Orange County Convention Center Oct. 6, strategically
placed between the primary elections and the November elections. The Democratic and Republican gubernatorial
nominees, to be selected Sept. 5, will be invited to the Summit discussions.
FORMAT
The process leading to the Summit seeks to engage all organizations across the state that desire to
participate.
The Summit begins at 9 a.m. Following a plenary session, experts will highlight for participants -- and discuss with them -- issues involved in creating a holistic approach to addressing child and family needs and of a seamless system of care.
At 11:30 a.m., participants will pick up box lunches and proceed to a breakout session on one the Commitment Issues. There is a breakout session for each of the twelve Commitment Issues, one of which is chosen by the participant upon registration. Here they will work to identify public policy priorities for the 2007 legislative session and beyond.
Following the breakout session, the public policy priorities identified in each of the sessions will be presented to the entire group. Participants may also have the opportunity to hear the two gubernatorial nominees discuss their views on child and family public policies in Florida as well as the Summit and the Commitment Issues.
Participants will select the top legislative priorities to implement during the 2007 session. The results of the Summit will be professionally formatted, posted on the Summit website, and distributed to all participants and through all available child and family advocacy networks. These priorities will form the backbone of education and child advocacy efforts in advance of the 2007 legislative session.
By working with legislative leaders and the new governor, the Florida Children's Summit will strive to break down program barriers and create a seamless system of care that addresses each child and family holistically.