About Whole Child Connection

Lawton Chiles, who served as Florida’s Governor from 1991 through 1998, focused a major part of his administration on building a state that was committed to ensuring the healthy development of all children. His wife, Rhea Chiles, created The Lawton Chiles Foundation to continue the Governor’s commitment to children by assisting communities to become Whole Child Communities.

The Lawton Chiles Foundation, in partnership with pilot communities in Florida, defines a Whole Child Community as follows:

"A Whole Child Community” believes that:

All children should have the opportunity to grow to be healthy, contributing members of society,
Parents have primary responsibility for raising their children,
The community is a partner with parents in this endeavor,
The community must pay attention to all dimensions of a child’s and the parents’ well-being.

In 2004, visionaries from the Children’s Services Council of Martin County (CSCMC) embraced these ideals and determined that the county would become one of the pilot communities because they recognized a need to improve access and increase utilization of services for children 0-18 years old and their families.

The Whole Child concept presented the opportunity to provide a preventative, holistic approach - one that considers the history of the parents, the physical home environment and the social, spiritual and cultural connections that help sustain and support the family. Partnering with the Lawton Chiles Foundation, CSCMC made the Whole Child Connection (previously called the Whole Child Project) a targeted initiative. Consequently, they hired an executive director and eventually advisors and staff to develop and execute this model program.
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Whole Child Connection is “Green Nonprofits Certified.” For more information, visit: www.GreenNonprofits.org