Our Program

Florida Float Plan exists to equip children to save their own lives when they find themselves submerged in a body of water. 

According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, we lost 93 kids to drowning in 2022, and we lost 99 kids in 2023  to drowning. Most of these deaths occurred in swimming pools, usually just a few feet from their caregivers. 

Many people are unaware that even infants can learn to float face up and save themselves from drowning.

Florida ranks #4 in the US for the highest number of childhood drownings. 

We, as Florida residents, can improve these statistics, and save our children. 

Although our program  focuses on children age 1-5, because of their greater risk, we are willing to work with ANY age swimmer needing these skills. 

We offer flexible scheduling with no long-term commitment. 

If you are a parent or grandparent of a child that cannot swim, contact us now. 

If you would like to contribute to our scholarship program, do that now. While we try to keep our fees as low as possible, we do have families who need scholarship opportunities to participate in our program.

If you have been a victim of the grief of a child drowning, we hope to honor your hearts in our work here.

If there are financial, logistical, emotional or physical barriers to enrolling your child in our program, please contact us.

If a child can crawl, they can drown. 

If a child can crawl, they can swim. 

Each child's tuition per child is $25.

Each session is 60 minutes. This includes a minimum of 45 minutes in the water and 15 minutes of feedback with caregivers on goals for each child to learn to save their own lives in the water. 

Teaching an individual child to swim is a puzzle with a number of different challenging pieces. 

As a high school and college student, I was a lifeguard and swimming instructor to children of all ages, including children with disabilities. 

As a Physician Assistant with more than 15 years of  experience in emergency medicine,  the risk of a child drowning never leaves my mind. The stories of drowning victims are never far from my thoughts. 

In all honesty, I am tired of the drownings. I want to offer a solution that is accessible to all the little people that can be saved now, if we can just work together to teach them how.  If we need to teach at 6am or 9 pm  every day or once a week or whatever it takes to get these kids learning, I will do it. 

As a parent, I know how challenging it is both logistically, financially and emotionally to conquer the task of swimming lessons for young families, especially with multiple children. 

We work to remove those challenges to make our program easily accessible to all families. 

It is possible for us to teach your child to save their own life, when they find themselves submerged in a body of water. 

Fill out your child’s application today and include in the notes the best time of day for you for your child to attend a session, and whatever barriers you may have. 

If they can crawl, they can drown.  

If they can crawl, they can swim.

Thank you on behalf of your kids for making a plan for them to float.  It is an honor and a privilege to work with each one of the children we meet. 

~Rachel Smith