Autism Family Support of Florida

Local Guides

Autism Support in Southeast Florida: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and the Keys

If you are raising an autistic child in Southeast Florida, you have probably been searching your city name and getting nowhere useful. Here is the thing almost no one tells you: in Florida, the offices you need are organized by county, not by city, so the first real question is not "what is in my town" but "which county am I in." Southeast Florida is four counties, each with its own school district, its own state region, and its own Medicaid setup, and once you know yours, everything gets simpler. Let me point you to the right one.

I am Jessica. I am a parent who raised an autistic child and learned this system from the inside, and I spent a good part of my working life in insurance and benefits. This is the regional map for Southeast Florida: pick your county, get its guide, and start from there.

The short version

Southeast Florida is four counties, and which one you are in decides everything

The reason "call around" never works here is that Southeast Florida is not one system; it is four county systems stacked next to each other. From the Keys up through Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, each county runs its own school district and falls in its own state and Medicaid regions. A parent in Boca Raton and a parent in Hialeah are dealing with two entirely different sets of local offices, even though they are an hour apart.

The tri-county metro (Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach) is one continuous stretch of communities, from Homestead and Kendall up through Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines, Boca Raton, and Jupiter, but the services still split cleanly by county line. So the most useful thing I can do is send you to your county's guide, where the local offices are named and the steps are laid out. Find yours below.

One thing worth knowing up front, because it explains why "which county" matters so much: Southeast Florida is not even a single Medicaid region. Florida's Statewide Medicaid Managed Care regions are lettered, and this area spans three of them. Palm Beach County is in Region G, Broward County is in Region H, and Miami-Dade County and the Keys are in Region I. Your Medicaid managed-care region depends on your county, so confirm yours before you assume a plan or provider list applies.

Find your county (and its guide)

Pick the county you live in. Each guide names that county's school district and walks through the local offices you will actually deal with.

Whatever your city inside these three counties, your county guide is the right starting point, because the district, the waiver region, and the Medicaid plans are set at the county level.

If you are in the Florida Keys (Monroe County)

The Keys are part of Southeast Florida, and you are served right here, not left out. Monroe County covers Key West, Marathon, Key Largo, and Islamorada, and it has its own local offices just like the mainland counties do. Here are your Monroe starting points, each of which I would confirm on the office's own site before you call.

One honest note about the Keys: there are fewer local diagnostic and therapy providers than on the mainland, so some families travel up to Miami-Dade or use telehealth. I describe those resources by type and how to vet them, never as a ranked list, because judging clinical quality is a clinician's job and not mine.

The four systems every Southeast Florida family meets

No matter which of the four counties you are in, you will meet the same shape of systems: your school district's ESE office, the APD waiver track, Early Steps if your child is under three, and Florida Medicaid. They do not coordinate with each other, which is exactly why it feels like chaos, and it is not your fault. If you want the full plain-language walkthrough of how these pieces connect and hand off, read the five Florida systems every autism parent has to learn.

What I can help with, and what I can't

I tell every family this early, because being clear about the line is what makes me safe to trust. I am a lived-experience parent and an insurance and benefits person. I am not a doctor, not a lawyer, and not a certified special-education advocate, and I will never pretend to be.

Across Southeast Florida, that means I help you understand and organize your own paperwork, I show you which local office handles which piece and how to reach it, and I prepare you for the meetings and the calls. I do not diagnose, I do not tell you which therapy to choose, I do not speak for you as your lawyer or advocate of record, and I never promise an outcome. I refer you out the moment your situation crosses that line, and I would rather do that than stretch it.

Your next step

Here is the one thing to do when you close this page: find your county above, open its guide, and take a breath.

I made a free starter resource for exactly this moment: the First 90 Days checklist for Florida families, a short guide and a one-page printable that orders the "what now" steps and decodes the acronyms. It is free, and it is the calmest first step I know how to offer. [Get the free First 90 Days checklist here.]

When you want the ongoing home rather than a single download, our membership community is $39 a month (or $390 a year): a full library, the template vault, a monthly group question-and-answer call, and other Florida parents who get it. If cost is the only thing standing between your family and this help, please ask, because there is a hardship path and the free checklist means no family ever leaves here with nothing.

Sources, verified July 2026: Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities, six regional offices including the Southern Region serving Miami-Dade and Monroe; Florida Early Steps, Florida Department of Health Children's Medical Services; Florida Medicaid Statewide Medicaid Managed Care, lettered regions A through I as of February 2025, with Palm Beach in Region G, Broward in Region H, and Miami-Dade and Monroe in Region I; Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Broward County Public Schools, the School District of Palm Beach County, and the Monroe County School District for Exceptional Student Education. Local offices, program lead agencies, and Medicaid plan lists change, so confirm the current details on each agency's own site.

The information here is general education for Florida families and reflects what is current as of the date shown; local offices, programs, and plans change, so verify time-sensitive details with the relevant agency. Jessica Mullis is not an attorney and does not provide legal advice or representation. She is not a licensed clinician (not a physician, psychologist, BCBA, OT, or SLP) and does not diagnose, treat, or provide any medical, behavioral, or therapeutic service, and she does not rate or certify the quality of any clinic or provider. She provides education, preparation, and support so families can advocate for themselves; she does not represent families as counsel or advocate of record. No specific outcome, including approval of any claim, appeal, waiver, benefit, or service, is or can be guaranteed. She does not bill insurance and is not an agent of any insurer, Medicaid program, school district, or government agency; she works solely for the family. Your family's information, and your child's, is kept confidential, and you retain ownership of your own documents.