Children’s Home Society of Florida
The children’s Home Society of Florida (CHS) exists as the oldest nonprofit organization in Florida and delivers solutions that address challenges facing children and families in the community. The institution operates on a philosophy of the potential in every child and family to build on their strengths and realize their potential. Over the years of its existence, the organization has received recognition for its health and wellness initiatives, implementation of innovative practices and success in the adoption of children from the foster system (“Children’s Home Society of Florida — Children’s Home Society of America”, 2020). As such, the organization programs build on the parents’ strengths and empower them to raise their children in healthy and nurturing homes.
The welfare has a rich history since its formation in 1902 by Rev. D.W. Comstock through the help of community leaders. Its initial aim was to provide a place for children who were living in poverty and had no access to education. This mission run and evolved in the 20th century not only in philanthropy but also helped in creating, passing and reforming child labor and welfare laws, which are still in place today. Based on these works, CHS adopted its mission statement as “Embracing Children. Inspiring Lives” which was meant to showcase its commitment to protecting children rights. Today, the organization has evolved to meet the expanding needs in the community and takes care of over 60,000 children annually through its over 2000 personnel. Given its expanded capacity, CHS had adopted its mission statement as ‘“Building bridges to success for children” which is the primary commitment of helping children cross bridges to success. To achieve this mission, CHS has developed four main goals which guide their operations (Winmore, 2020). They include (1) Building strong families. (2) Building a strong foundation for Children. (3) Empowering children and young adults to realize their full potential and, (4) Transforming communities with innovative solutions.
Given the space where the Children’s Home Society of Florida operates, it is safe to say that it exists to solve a social condition in its society. Since a social condition is a situation in the society that is caused by one’s economic status and/or education levels (Smith & Alpert, 2007), the inherent cause of the issues addressed by CHS is caused by the respective family’s income levels and their education exposure. As such, the CHS approach includes the provision of education, child abuse prevention programs, foster care, adoption and post-adoption support, counselling and parent education. Even in situations of adoptions and foster care for orphans, it only occurs when the extended families are not able to accommodate such kids due to their economic circumstances or lack of social cohesiveness. To some extent, these social conditions prevail as problems to the community.
Children’s Home Society of Florida leadership structure is organized along with the primary functional needs for the organization and falls under six top leadership positions as follows. (1) President and Chief Executive Officer. (2) Chief operations officer. (3) Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel (4) Chief Financial officer. (5) Chief Talent Officer and, (6) Chief Information Officer. Below these top executives, there are established positions of senior vice presidents and Vice presidents whose operations have been spread across operations, quality control, governmental relations, and communications and brand. The management team operates under the leadership of a 15 member board, whose composition is majorly on a volunteer basis. The governing board guides the society’s mission and strategic direction.
The Children’s Home Society of Florida leadership structure is quite an expansive one, and its effectiveness and efficiency can be vouched for. The ultimate measure for an organizations effectiveness is on how well it achieves its goals and objectives (Sparrow & Cooper, 2014). Children’s Home Society of Florida runs as a nonprofit organization and has created funding trust based on its management and the over 60,000 children and families benefitting from the organization annually. Additionally, the organization manages over 2,000 workforce based on the needs as identified by the organization talent department. CHS efficiency can be vouched based on the organizational corporate management structure, the competencies of the position holders and the continued skills development (Chuda & Wyrwicka, 2016). The organization attracts one of the best personnel in the children welfare, led by the president, who has an extensive three decades of experience in children welfare. People who occupy all other positions, including the top executives, possess competency background in their respective area. This includes the investment in a talent department and quality to ensure the organization goals are effectively addressed continuously. Besides, the organization has a designated governing board, led by a chairperson and a vice, who oversee the actions of the executives and guides the policy and objectives of the organization.
The Children’s Home Society of Florida programs are not only effective but also efficient, given the primary prerogative of developing the kid’s potential based on their individual strengths and those of the family they come from. The organization takes a holistic approach based on the four primary goals as identified above. As such, CHS does not only treat the social condition symptoms but also heals the underlying disease. That is, to address the kid’s current issues as identified, the programs target other areas which include adoption where there is a need, foster care, educations, improving family’s economic situation and laying a strong background for the children. Additionally, the organization has pushed the protection of the children rights and needs through legislation, thereby making them a philosophy for every citizen and organization.
References
Children’s Home Society of Florida — Children’s Home Society of America. (2020). Retrieved 26 May 2020, from https://www.chsamerica.org/florida
Winmore, F. (2020). History | Children’s Home Society of Florida. Retrieved 26 May 2020, from https://www.chsfl.org/history/
Smith, M. R., & Alpert, G. P. (2007). Explaining police bias: A theory of social conditioning and illusory correlation. Criminal justice and behaviour, 34(10), 1262-1283.
Sparrow, P., & Cooper, C. (2014). Organizational effectiveness, people and performance: new challenges, new research agendas. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 1(1), 2-13. doi: 10.1108/joepp-01-2014-0004
Chuda, A., & Wyrwicka, M. (2016). Impact of organizational culture perception efficiency of workers enterprise – case study impact of organizational culture perception efficiency of workers enterprise – case study. Research in Logistics and Production, 6(5), 429-441. doi: 10.21008/j.2083-4950.2016.6.5.5