General Resources and Hotlines

The Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) works in partnership with local communities and private providers to assist people who have developmental disabilities and their families.  APD also provide assistance in identifying the needs of people with developmental disabilities for supports and services.  APD also maintains a resource directory as an informational service to help individuals with disabilities learn about available resources and organizations in their local communities. 

Website: http://apd.myflorida.com/
Community Resource Directory: https://resourcedirectory.apd.myflorida.com/
Phone number: 1-866-273-2273

Florida’s Early Steps Directory provides statewide information and resources for parents or caregivers of children with diagnosed or suspected developmental delays or unique abilities from birth to three years of age, providers, and other interested groups or individuals.

Website: https://www.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/childrens-health/early-steps/index.html
Phone number: 1-800-218-0001

The Family Health Line is a statewide free hotline offering counseling information and referrals about pregnancy, infant and toddler issues. The goal of the hotline is to improve the health status of Florida’s pregnant women and their children by providing callers with information on helpful community resources and answering basic questions about pregnancy, breastfeeding, childbirth education and other pregnancy-related concerns.

Website: https://www.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/womens-health/pregnancy/family-health-line.html
Phone number: 1-800-451-2229

The Florida Diagnostic & Learning Resources System (FDLRS) provides diagnostic, instructional, and technology support services to district exceptional education programs and families of students with disabilities. Service centers include 19 centers that directly serve school districts in the areas of Child Find, Parent Services, Human Resource Development (HRD), and Technology. In addition, the FDLRS Network also includes 6 Multi-disciplinary Centers who focus on in-depth evaluations and several statewide projects offering specialized services.

Website: http://www.fdlrs.org/

Healthy Start services are available to pregnant women, infants and children up to age three. Services target identified risks and include: information, referral and ongoing care coordination and support to assure access to needed services; psychosocial, nutritional and smoking cessation counseling; childbirth, breastfeeding and parenting support and education; and home visiting.

Website: http://healthystartflorida.com/
Phone Number: 850-999-6200

The goal of Help Me Grow Florida is to promote healthy development for every child in our state. Help Me Grow is designed to address the need for early identification of developmental and/or behavioral concerns, and then to link children and their families to community-based developmental and behavioral services and supports.

Website:https://www.helpmegrowfl.org/

Phone Number: 211

Hope for Healing Florida provides information, resources, and treatment links to youth and families who are seeking mental health services and supports.

Website: https://www.hopeforhealingfl.com

The National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities provides information about unique abilities, including descriptions, risk factors, signs and symptoms; screenings and diagnosis; data and statistics; research and related articles. The information is easily accessible and organized in searchable categories.

Website: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/index.html
Phone Number: 1-800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636)

Part of the Florida Department of Education, the Office of Early Learning dedicates its people, time and energy to ensuring access, affordability and quality of early learning services for the state’s children and families. There is a wide variety of early childhood educational programs and services for children from birth to 5 in Florida. They range from programs that help families afford childcare, to free opportunities for Florida 4-year-olds to attend prekindergarten to information and referral services.

Website: http://www.floridaearlylearning.com/
Phone Number: 1-866-357-3239

The Arc of Florida is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for persons with unique abilities.  The Arc of Florida works with local, state and national partners and advocates for people with intellectual disabilities, autism, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, prader-willi syndrome and other unique abilities to be fully included in all aspects of their community. 

Website: http://www.arcflorida.org/
Phone Number: 1-800-226-1155

The Family Café exists to provide individuals with unique abilities and their families with an opportunity for collaboration, advocacy, friendship and empowerment by serving as a facilitator of communication, a space for dialogue and a source of information.

Website: https://familycafe.net
Phone Number: 1-888-309-CAFÉ (2233)

The Fetal Health Foundation is a parent-founded non-profit that supports families receiving a fetal syndrome diagnosis.

Website: The Fetal Health Foundation