Health and Human Services

Sleep Baby Safely Initiative of Manatee County

Manatee County has created an initiative to prevent infant sleep-related deaths.

Find Healthy Teens Services

Healthy Teens is dedicated to empowering youth to make positive, healthy decisions for their success and wellbeing.

The Future Leaders Academy (FLA) is a rigorous year-round program focused on addressing the disparity in college enrollment of low-income, first-generation Latinx high school students and their families in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Receive Children's Whole-Health Services

Program is a behavioral health program for children and their families that serve them in the following areas: suicide prevention/awareness, anxiety/stress, violence/trauma, anger management/emotional regulation, crime prevention, grief/loss, and drug/alcohol awareness.

Find Musical Motion Services

Musical Motion is a FREE learn & play class that encourages bonding while developing early learning and literacy skills in children. Sessions focus on creative activities that enhance brain development and build preschoolers’ social skills, language skills, motor skills, and more.

Refer a Patient to Community Health

Refer someone you know who may need assistance from our Community Health team.

Receive Grief Support: The Blue Butterfly Family Grief Center

The Blue Butterfly Family Grief Center is a program of Tidewell Grief Care. Our mission is to serve children ages 5-18 and their caregivers by providing a safe space to grieve and process after a significant death in their lives.

Find Chosen Families (Adoption Preservation)

Program provides adoption preservation and support services through a multi-agency, integrated service delivery system in conjunction with partnering organizations (Family Network on Disabilities and Family Resources).

Find Alternative Path to Success

Program provides quality educational programming for struggling and at-risk students who have been unsuccessful in traditional schools.

Find Youth Intervention Prevention Services

An expansion into Manatee County for Community-Based Care child-welfare services began in the fall of 1999. Similar to the Sarasota County project, the YMCA became the Lead Agency of a Safe Children Coalition of community agencies to assist Manatee County’s abused and neglected children and their families in reaching their full potential in a safe and stable environment.

Find Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Program

For more than thirty-five years, Pace Center for Girls has been transforming the lives of girls and young women

Receive Early Childhood Court (Foster Children) Services

For more than 40 years, The Florida Center for Early Childhood has been a leading provider of therapeutic services, early education, and healthy development for children in southwest Florida.

Find Children’s Counseling Services (Domestic Violence)

Program is designed to promote strength, safety and well-being for Manatee County children.

Find Iron sharpening Iron Services

Iron Sharpening Iron provides a safe space for students after the school day, which can be challenging for many resource-limited families to find.

Find Girls Alternative Program for Success (GAPS)

Program provides teen pregnancy prevention and individual development curriculum.

Find Children's Systems Advocate Program

The System Advocate assists the Family Safety Alliance in the oversight of the Community Based Care Provider of child welfare services for Desoto, Manatee, and Sarasota counties

Find Sexual Assault Child Advocacy and Therapy for Children

Centerstone has developed a special approach to help children overcome behavioral health challenges. Our counselors and therapists create an environment of trust to encourage young clients to open up and share their feelings. We develop individualized treatment plans to address the unique needs of each child. By teaming with families, schools and communities, we build a network of support that allows healing to occur.

Find Weekend Meals Program

Feeding Empty Little Tummies is dedicated to feeding Manatee County’s most needy – homeless and food insecure students. One backpack at a time!

Find B.A.S.E. Services (Before and After School, Summer Enrichment)

Find Foundation for Excellence

Program offers before, after school and summer care activities. Activities include educational, recreational and social activities. Transportation provided to and from the center to local schools.

Find Great Futures Start Here

Program offers after school and summer care activities.

Find Success4Life Training and Mentoring

Replay Outreach exists to mobilize individuals, churches, and communities to reach at-risk youth in every local juvenile justice facility, school, and club. We encourage and challenge these individuals to find their direction, discover their passions, and achieve their purpose.

Find AMIkids Manatee Prevention Program

Program provides gender-specific services to middle school boys ages 11-15. Due to the variety of adverse childhood experiences they are at higher risk for involvement with the juvenile system.

Find Sexual Offense Abuse Reactive (SOAR)

The evolution of treatment services in Manatee County began in 1985 with volunteer professionals who realized the importance of follow-up services for youth with offending history who were re-integrating back into the community from residential treatment.

Find Dream Oaks Camp

Foundation for Dreams, through our signature Dream Oaks Camp program, strives to create a place where children can recognize one another as individuals, not by their disabilities.

Find Adaptive Riding and Equine Assisted Services

Program provides use of movement and the spirit of the horse to heal the body, mind and spirit of our participants. Program has seen smallest child overcome their fears, issues and befriends the biggest horse on the farm.

Find Kids Personal Safety Program

Program provides age-appropriate workshops on identification and prevention techniques to children in Manatee County schools.

Find Emergency Family Food and Baby Baskets

The Food Bank of Manatee partners with multiple non-profit agencies and churches in Manatee County who assist families in unstable or crisis situations.

Find Focus on Literacy Program

Program provides a daily afterschool literacy program, Reading Buddies, will be provided to students in grades K through 3rd grade over 36 weeks.

Find Children's Therapy Center

Register for the Junior Blast Camp

Build leadership skills and gain valuable job experience by joining our Junior Blast Camp Program! As a participant, you will be assigned to younger age groups to help organize and lead activities under the guidance of our camp counselors.

Register for Youth Basketball Camp

Week-day basketball practice for youth from 8-11 years old.

Register for Holiday Blast Camps

To keep your children active, engaged, and safe, Manatee County offers Holiday Camps featuring exciting activities like swimming, arts and crafts, PE games, and a game room. You can register online or in person at the G.T. Bray and John Marble Recreation Centers

Find C.E.R.T.A.I.N (Truancy Prevention/Intervention)

Program works with students to identify barriers to school attendance and help the youth and family to address those barriers to increase school attendance and increase opportunities for school success.

Find SafePlace2B (Youth Residential Program)

Their mission is to inspire well-being and success in the lives of vulnerable children, youth and families
through responsive quality programs and safe places.

Find Coordinated Approach to Child Health (ELC-CATCH)

Program provides child-based community health program that aims to create healthy habits and behavior change in children by teaching them to identify and choose healthy foods and to increase their moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) each day.

Find Nemours Reading BrightStart!

Program provides a supplemental curriculum designed to be an intensive intervention for teaching language and early literacy skills to small groups of three-four and five-year-old children screened and deemed at-risk for reading failure.

Find Parent Partner Program

Program provides parent education and support for parents with children ages 0-12.

Find Family Support Services

Program provides respite care, family support services, and case management for chronically ill, medically fragile and developmentally delayed children and their families.

Find Early Care and Education Childcare Subsidy and Match Program

Program provides subsidized child care services for Manatee County children whose families meet the eligibility criteria.

Whole Child Manatee - County Page

A library for services!

Sign Up for Summer Blast Camp for Kids

Sign up early to secure your spot!
Registration for Summer Blast begins April 1.

Find Helping Young People Excel

Program provides an innovative experience for teens by addressing key needs to promote positive youth development through academics, life skills, career development, work-readiness and recreation.

Find Emergency Shelter and Group Homes for Children

MCS provides a full spectrum of programs serving over 12,000 children and families annually. Since its inception in 1977 as the Manatee County’s first and only emergency shelter for abused children in foster care, MCS has grown to offer programs in treatment, prevention, intervention, and residential services.

Find Child Advocacy Center

Program provides multiple services to child abuse victims.

Find Teen Program - The Club, Ages 13-17

The CLUB – Teens Only Program provides teens more than a place to hang out with their friends, it emphasizes academics, graduating on time and planning for life beyond high school.

Find Mentoring Matters-Impact Over Obstacles Program

For more than two decades, Take Stock in Children of Manatee County has been a beacon of hope for numerous promising students facing adversity and economic disadvantages in our community

Find Stepping Up to Success (SUS) Services

Girls engage in academic enrichment, skill-building, creative arts, positive social experiences, health and wellness, and develop empathy, resilience, and leadership qualities in a structured, supportive, and inclusive environment.

Find One to One Mentoring Services

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast provides one-to-one mentoring relationships to children ages 6-18 years old throughout the Gulf Coast of Florida in Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto, Highlands, Hardee, Charlotte, Lee, Hendry and Collier counties.

Find Before School, After School, Camp Myakka (MAC)

Program offers before, after school and summer care activities.

Education & Support for New Parents: Healthy Families

Program provides home visiting parenting and support services to families that live in Manatee County.

Receive Family Assistance: Whole Child Manatee

Whole Child Manatee works with families to provide assessment, connection, education, and support through shared community partnerships.

Find Child Welfare Preservation and Diversion Program

Program provides immediate services to families at risk of maltreatment and prevent removal of the child(ren) from their homes through decreasing risk factors and increasing protective factors.

Find Family Preservation and Reunification

The idea to re-engineer the child welfare system in Florida began simply enough with a question of “what would you do if you could?”…and the answer “to have the community manage the foster care system”. This question and answer came from the hearts of two compassionate leaders in Florida — former Governor Jeb Bush and former Sarasota Family YMCA President & CEO Carl Weinrich. Through these exchanges in 1994, the concept of Community Based Care (CBC) was born.

Find Housing-Focused Family Shelter Program

The program provides families with a safe place to live while they receive case management, seek/obtain employment, receive referrals for community partners, have life skills classes such as budgeting and parenting, while learning to demonstrate they can create and live within their budget before securing sustainable housing.