Photo courtesy of premisesinjuryadvocates.com

By David L. Snelling
South Florida Times

MIAMI – Florida leads the nation in children drownings despite prevention efforts to keep kids safe while enjoying the water.

The kid drowning rate in Florida has remained high in recent years, showing no decline as children are losing their lives in the water.

According to a study conducted by the University of South Florida, child drowning deaths in the state reached a record high of 140 in 2025.

That represents an increase from 104 in 2024.

So far this year, 82 kids from ages 2 to 11 have died by drowning in Florida.

In 2023, the Department of Children of Families reported 97 child drownings, 93 in 2022, 99 in 2021 and 69 kids drownings in 2020.

The drownings occurred at public and private swimming pools, backyard and frontyard swimming pools, lakes and the beaches.
“It’s like a magnet. Kids want to get to the water. If you have a backyard swimming pool behind your home, you should absolutely be fencing it off,” said Paul Demello, an advocate with Just Against Children Drowning.

Legislative efforts and drowning awareness campaigns have had no effect.

State lawmakers have approved multiple bills to address the crisis since 2021 including:

* SB 544 – providing free swim lesson vouchers for children under 4 in low‑income families.

* SB 274 – requiring written swim‑skill attestations for children in water‑based programs and flotation devices for at‑risk children.

* SB 610 – mandating safety features in residential pools and water safety education in hospitals and childbirth centers.

In addition, children safety advocates are encouraging parents to install fences around their backyard pools to keep kids safe

They also recommended teaching children to lie on their backs as early as six months old, and adults should learn CPR, calling it a crucial skill.

Miami-Dade and Broward counties continue to record one of the highest child drowning death rates in the U.S., according to CBS News.

As of the latest available reports, there have been 7 child drownings in Miami-Dade County so far in 2026, according to PR Newswire.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children ages 1–4 die from drowning more than from any other cause.

So far this year, three children have reportedly drowned in Broward County.

On June 19, 2026, a 4‑year‑old boy drowned in a pool in North Lauderdale, a four year-old girl drowned in a lake in Plantation on July 5 and a two year -old boy also drowned in a lake in Plantation on July 12.

Local experts note that the trend is worsening, with multiple cases occurring within short timeframes.

Broward County leaders and local officials have publicly addressed the drowning crisis, emphasizing that child drownings are preventable and require a multi‑layered safety approach.

At a swim safety conference in Fort Lauderdale following multiple child drownings in 2024, officials stressed that drowning remains the leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 1–4.

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Chief Stephen Gollan said the community is “coming together as a united front to hopefully prevent that next tragedy” and urged parents to ensure adult supervision, install pool alarms or fences, and teach children how to swim.

Miami-Dade’s Zero Drownings program has reached about 4,000 children so far this year, offering free swim and water-safety lessons to pre-K and kindergarten students, with a goal of 20,000 children annually.

Sheryl Woods of the YMCA of South Florida emphasized that swim lessons are affordable and life‑saving, and that families should take time to educate children on water safety.

She said Florida offers free swimming lesson vouchers and families should take advantage of the opportunity to prevent drownings in the future.
“Absolutely unacceptable,” she said. “No child should drown. Drowning is preventable.”

Broward County U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz joined local safety advocates in calling drowning a “public health crisis” and said “swim lessons are our best tool in this fight.”

She urged stronger enforcement of Florida’s residential pool safety barrier laws and reminded that multiple layers of protection — barriers, supervision, swim lessons, life jackets, and CPR training.