Frontline Intake and Referral Services Team (FIRST)

Intake hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST Monday – Friday.

The FIRST team receives calls throughout the state of Florida. Please be advised that an attempt will be made to contact you within four (4) business days after your initial call. However, we hope to contact you, when possible, well before this time frame. You can assist us by leaving your name, address, area code and phone number when leaving a message for us.

Please call toll-free at (800) 342-0823 and follow the menu:

en Español: press 1
Individuals who are in an inpatient or residential mental health facility or a state treatment facility: press 2
Individuals living in the community with disabilities calling to request services: press 3

Our TDD number (800) 346-4127

We look forward to hearing from you!

Your Portal to Advocacy Center Information and Services
FIRST Resource Packet: Documents and Links

Your Portal to Advocacy Center
Information and Services

The Frontline Intake and Referral Services Team (FIRST) is committed to providing quality intake services. Intake is how the Advocacy Center gathers general information about an individual’s reason for contacting us, along with some personal information (age, race, disability, etc.) to meet our federal reporting requirements. This helps us determine what type of information and referral (I & R) or assistance we may be able to provide.

FIRST staff members have a combined experience with the Advocacy Center of over 60 years. The FIRST team is made up of 5 advocacy specialists, 3 senior advocacy specialists and a team manager who work in consultation with a senior attorney to respond to calls or written requests received by the Advocacy Center. Our website provides general information about how our intake process works. We do not offer on-line intake in order to maintain privacy.

Although anyone may contact us for general information on disability related issues, our mandate and agency mission require that we provide services to individuals with disabilities. Services are also provided based on goals and priorities developed with public input and adopted by our Board of Directors. In determining which cases to accept, we must also follow our case selection criteria and other policies and procedures.

Individuals without disabilities or individuals with disabilities seeking only I & R about various disability issues are served by the FIRST team. For example:

An individual recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis is interested in finding support groups or organizations in their area.

A family member is looking for resources to donate equipment, a wheelchair or other assistive technology after the death of a family member.

An individual requests an overview of the Advocacy Center along with a request for materials.

An individual in a Baker Act receiving facility does not understand why they are being held or what their rights in this situation are.

An individual is having difficulties on their job related to their disability and is looking for information about vocational rehabilitation programs in Florida.

FIRST also receives a large volume of calls from individuals with disabilities who report a disability rights dispute or problem. A FIRST advocacy specialist conducts an interview to understand the disability rights concern. We then analyze whether the issue will be forwarded to an Advocacy Center issue team for further evaluation, given the expertise needed to provide additional assessment. We contact the individual with a disability unless we are contacted by the parent of a minor child or legal guardian. If an individual is already being represented by an attorney, we refer the individual back to their legal counsel and may provide general technical assistance to the attorney.

The following are examples of the types of calls FIRST might refer to another team within the Advocacy Center.

An individual who uses a service animal is told that a city bus will not allow the animal to board, limiting that individual’s ability to travel in the community. The advocacy specialist in FIRST interviews the individual and takes down specific information about the date of the incident, what happened, who the individual talked with, and whether or not a formal complaint was filed etc. This dispute would be referred to the Equal Access to the Community (EAC) Team for further evaluation. This could result in additional I & R, investigation, negotiation, mediation or potential litigation.

A parent calls for a minor child with a disability due to a dispute with a school over an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). We would forward this dispute to our Education Team and again the level of service would be decided by that team.

An individual with a disability and who is in an institution contacts us to report that they may have sprained a shoulder but are not being provided medical attention. They have reported this to the institution but they are not being treated nor taken seriously. This issue might be referred to our Institutional Conditions team.

We hope this article has given you a clearer “view” of the services FIRST provides for individuals who contact the Advocacy Center for assistance.

The information provided herein does not constitute legal representation or advice.

FIRST Resource Packet

Advocacy Center Brochure (PDF, 659k)
Ten Steps for Being an Effective Self-Advocate (PDF, 554k)
One-page Summary of the Advocacy Center (PDF, 35k)
FY'08 Goals and Priorities
Voter Registration Information
Finding Your Local Elections Office
Advocacy Center Grievance Procedure

Frontline Intake and Referral Services Team (FIRST)

Contents

Your Portal to Advocacy Center Information and Services

FIRST Resource Packet

Your Portal to Advocacy Center
Information and Services