Safe Children Coalition announces 2026-2027 board of directors

Child welfare agency Safe Children Coalition (SCC) is proud to announce its 2026-2027 board of directors, a volunteer leadership body tasked with providing expertise in areas including child welfare, fostering, adopting, education, finance and accounting, and mental/behavioral health, and assisting the organization in achieving its organizational directives.

Rob Goldstein has been named the new chair of the board, Lee Lipton is the new vice chair, and Chris Stobaugh will serve her second year as treasurer. Tony Gamelin is immediate past chair. Continuing directors are Paul Couzelis, Jeff Speers and Ann Walborn; new director is Adrian Cline. The organization thanks Ken Alexander and Brian Goodrich for their service, as both will rotate off the board in October.

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Goldstein, retired, is the former CEO of Menorah Life in St. Petersburg, Fla. He has 40 years of healthcare administration experience in senior living and hospital environments, and spent the past 24 years directing operations, managing a major expansion, and developing new programs. He has a passion for high quality, individualized, person-centered care.

This year, the SCC board will continue its focus on providing safe, stable, and nurturing homes for children and teens in our community, and continue its work to: reduce the number of children entering the child welfare system by expanding SCC's prevention and diversion services; expand community partnerships with government agencies, schools, nonprofits, healthcare providers, and philanthropic entities; continue to work toward reuniting vulnerable and homeless youths with their families; and help SCC grow its private donor and corporate philanthropic support.

In the coming year, the board will celebrate the impending opening of the new Youth Shelter in Sarasota; SCC recently reached its nearly $10 million fundraising goal and the facility is expected to begin serving homeless and other vulnerable children in Florida's Judicial Circuit 12 this fall.

"While people may understand that most of our work takes place 'on the front lines,' with case management, prevention and diversion services, foster care and adoption services, our board of directors – who have diverse backgrounds and widespread areas of expertise – are critical in helping to guide us through various challenges and to consider new opportunities," said SCC President and CEO Brena Slater. "We welcome Rob as chair and Adrian to the group, and are very grateful to all of our volunteer leaders for committing their time, resources and knowledge to help us create a brighter future for the children and families of Circuit 12."

Florida's Circuit 12 comprises Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. The core functions provided by SCC include child welfare case management, foster care, adoption, independent living, prevention/diversion, quality management, and support services.

In 2026, SCC served nearly 10,000 children and families, provided over 2,600 emergency safe shelter bed nights for homeless youth, advocated for 700 homeless and unaccompanied youth through the Schoolhouse Link program, facilitated the care of nearly 1,100 youths in foster care homes and out of care home placements, and helped 98 children – from infants to teens – to find their forever homes through adoption services.

For more information, visit sccfl.org.

About Safe Children Coalition, Inc.
Safe Children Coalition, Inc. (SCC) serves as the lead agency for community-based care for Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. SCC is a collaboration between local community agencies who provide services to children and families in need. SCC is committed to protecting children, strengthening families, and building community. The core functions provided by SCC include child welfare case management, foster care, adoption, independent living, prevention, diversion, quality management, and support services. Visit sccfl.org or call 941-371-4799.