Healthy Families Polk Earns National Accreditation for Home Visiting Services

Published: October 5, 2026

Bartow, Fla. (Oct. 5, 2026) - Healthy Families Polk has earned accreditation from Healthy Families America (HFA) for providing high-quality home visiting services to families throughout Polk County. The accreditation is effective through June 2031.

Healthy Families Polk is a free, voluntary home visitation program that helps promote and enhance the healthy development of children and families. The program promotes positive parenting, strengthens parent-child relationships and works to reduce negative childhood outcomes, including abuse and neglect.

During fiscal year 2025-26, Healthy Families Polk served 428 families and 824 children. Family support staff completed 6,260 home visits and made 720 referrals to connect families with essential community resources. Program data show that 100% of children served remained free of verified maltreatment during the fiscal year.

"Healthy Families is a family-strengthening program designed to reduce incidents of child abuse and neglect," said Polk County Health and Human Services Director Marcia Andresen. "I'm proud of the success Healthy Families Polk has had over the past 33 years working to make the community stronger one family at a time."

The accreditation confirms that Healthy Families Polk follows the HFA model and meets its best practice standards. The review evaluated the program's services, policies, documentation, supervision and management and included an on-site visit by HFA peer reviewers. Healthy Families Polk successfully met all required essential standards.

Staff throughout the program contributed to the accreditation process through direct services, case record preparation, policy review, quality assurance, supervision, data monitoring and staff training.

"Healthy Families Florida and the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida congratulate Healthy Families Polk on achieving this major milestone," said Healthy Families Florida Executive Director Rebekkah Sheetz.

Sheetz additionally said "Polk staff impressed us every step of the process and consistently met the expectations of the model. This is evidence that the families served by Healthy Families Polk are receiving the highest quality services. Well done."

For more information about Healthy Families Polk, visit polkfl.gov/services/healthy-families/ or call (863) 534-5257.