Strive Youth & Family Services

About Strive Youth & Family Services

Strive Youth & Family Services is a Florida-based residential care provider serving children with autism, developmental disabilities, and complex behavioral needs that are in the foster care system. We provide a safe, structured, and supportive home environment that integrates behavioral support, life-skills development, recreation, community outings, and coordination of essential services. Our mission is to help children thrive through individualized, compassionate care while creating opportunities for growth, independence, and a better quality of life.

What differentiates you from the competition?

Strive Youth & Family Services stands out by combining specialized residential care with behavioral expertise led by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Unlike traditional group homes, our approach integrates behavioral support into daily routines, life-skills development, recreation, and community activities. We focus on children with autism, developmental disabilities, and complex behavioral needs who may struggle to find appropriate placements. Our commitment is to provide individualized, compassionate care that helps every child grow, develop, and reach their fullest potential.

What are your top selling services or products that your company offers?

There are not many residential homes for kids in foster care designed to take in youth with Autism and developmental delays.

If you had one message to get across to future customers, what would it be?

At Strive Youth & Family Services, we believe every child deserves a safe, supportive home where they can thrive, regardless of their challenges. We combine specialized behavioral expertise with compassionate, individualized care to help children with autism and developmental disabilities build skills, gain confidence, and reach their fullest potential. Our mission is simple: provide the care, structure, and opportunities every child deserves.

What is the biggest marketing challenge that you will face in the upcoming year?

My biggest marketing challenge is getting the word out that we exist. Being in the group home industry does not allow us to market the phenomenal work like another service based business may do.

What is the biggest operational challenge that you will face in the upcoming year? Our biggest operational challenge this year is maintaining consistent, highly qualified staffing while expanding our residential services to meet the needs of children with complex behavioral and developmental disabilities. We must balance staff recruitment and retention, ongoing training, regulatory compliance, and financial sustainability while ensuring every child receives safe, individualized, high-quality care.

What is the core mission of your organization? Strive Youth & Family Services’ core mission is to provide safe, compassionate, and individualized residential care for children with autism, developmental disabilities, and complex behavioral needs. We strive to create an environment where every child feels valued, develops essential life skills, builds confidence, and has the opportunity to reach their fullest potential, regardless of their challenges.

How do you measure impact and success in your programs? We measure by the amount of services offered as well as final outcomes of where youth go after they leave our care.

What are your biggest fundraising or outreach challenges? Our biggest fundraising and outreach challenge is increasing awareness of the unique needs of children with autism, developmental disabilities, and complex behavioral challenges while building relationships with donors, community partners, and organizations willing to support our mission. We aim to communicate the impact of our services, secure sustainable funding, and develop partnerships that help us expand access to quality residential care for vulnerable children.

How do you build long-term relationships with donors and supporters? I build long-term relationships with donors and supporters by maintaining open communication, demonstrating the impact of their contributions, and showing genuine appreciation for their support. I focus on building trust through transparency, sharing organizational progress, and providing meaningful opportunities for community involvement. By connecting supporters to our mission of providing quality care for children with autism and developmental disabilities, I aim to develop lasting partnerships that strengthen our services and help more children thrive.

Can you share a story that shows your mission in action? One of our first youth we took in came with two cast on his feet.He had level 3 autism. He crawled out of the car on his knees that brought him and crawled up the steps into our home. We brought out soft mats that lead from the youths bed room to the dining table, main area of home where he could watch tv, as well as to the door for entry. Where some people may have saw a problem, we only saw solutions of what it would take to make this youth as comfortable as possible while in our care.

What keeps you motivated in this work? There are not enough specialized residential homes for the youth we serve. We understand that if we don’t open more homes, then our youth will bounce from home to home and never find a stable place to live until permanent housing can be secured.. which can take years.Our approach is unique to the Foster care system.