After fleeing her home country because of domestic violence, Amanda found herself staying with one of her four children in an emergency shelter in San Francisco. Unable to speak English, and faced with the legal process of a divorce and child custody without an attorney’s support, it was the most challenging time of her life. That’s when Amanda connected with Safe & Sound and things started to look up. With a contribution today, your generosity will help families like Amanda’s receive the vital programs and services they need—not just to survive, but to thrive.
After participating in nearly every available family strengthening service offered at Safe & Sound, Amanda’s story has a new chapter of success. Amanda has custody of her four children (three of whom she had to petition to legally have with her in the U.S.), educational services for her son with special needs, stable housing, and a full-time job. It took a lot of work on Amanda’s part, and the partnership of her Safe & Sound Clinical Care Coordinator, to create an individualized therapeutic plan and follow it through. From parenting classes that taught positive strategies for managing challenging childhood behavior, to access to a supportive caregiver community, Amanda parented her children through the challenges and gained tools that will support their family for a lifetime. She stays connected to Safe & Sound through our 24-hour TALK Line and parental drop-in services.
With the assistance and support of the Safe & Sound community—people like YOU—Amanda reached the goals she set when she first walked through our doors.
Your gift as a Safe & Sound community member ensures families like Amanda’s are not alone during some of the biggest challenges faced by parents and children.
WITH YOUR HELP AMANDA’S SUCCESS STORY CONTINUES!
Amanda’s story does not stop here. She wants to attend a program that will build her skills and put her on a job path to improve her family’s future. Your contribution is a vote of confidence and support for Amanda, and for all of the families that work with Safe & Sound.
Sincerely,
Melina León
Senior Program Manager-Care Coordination
Safe & Sound
P.S. Your gift to Safe & Sound will have double the impact. The Quest Foundation will generously match your gift dollar for dollar up to $100,000. Help us meet this challenge grant by mailing a gift today or donating online at: www.safeandsound.org/donate.
In this third session of the year, we shone a light to see what it could look like to have a robust, co-ordinated community support system. We refer to this as building a community pathway and our experts talked about what it looks like, and how it can work for families.
In particular, our speakers explored the existing data, shared perspectives and discussed examples of success – what it looks like when a family is linked to services through community pathways and how that changes the course of their life.
We are in the midst of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the child welfare system. Most notably is new federal policy—the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA)—that allows for federal dollars to be used to support families in which children are at “imminent risk” of entry into foster care. This pending policy and practice shift requires the creation of “community pathways” that allow families to access services and support without fear of over-reporting to Child Protectives Services (CPS).
In support of these changes, Safe & Sound, a community-based organization dedicated to strengthening families and ending child abuse invites you to read Creating a Child & Family Well-Being System: A Paradigm Shift from Mandated Reporting to Community Supporting—and support the recommendations.
The proposed paradigm shift from mandated reporting to community supporting is not a new idea, but one that has been proposed and championed by advocates, social workers, researchers, philanthropists, pediatricians, educators, and others across the country who have been informed by deep listening to families with lived expertise in the child welfare system.
What does the data tell us about mandated reporting in California?
432,736 children were subject to a CPS investigation between April 2021 – March 2022
56,079 children were found to be maltreated
This means only 13% of reports by mandated reporters are substantiated
This brief offers action steps in these five categories
For more information on how to take action
| In case you missed it, on August 25th we hosted a Lunch & Learn on this topic as part of our series on The Facts and Faces of Prevention. Here is a link to the session recording, and we hope you will share it with your colleagues to expand the conversation on these much-needed reforms. Type in the passcode: %@f1KA%K WATCH THE RECORDING |
We welcome your feedback! Please let us know if you have any questions or other feedback to share from reading this brief by emailing us (communityaction@safeandsound.org).
In gratitude for your support of children and families.
Katie Albright
Chief Executive Officer
Safe & Sound
In this session we explored the issues and the challenges involved in shifting our current reliance on mandated reporting of neglect and abuse, to a new paradigm based on the data and understanding of what families need. We looked at the community supports required to allow mandated reporters (whether in schools, pediatric offices or child serving organizations) to link children and families to the support services they need to be together and strong.
This was about shifting the paradigm from mandated reporting to community supporting; and we presented and discussed recommendations from our recently released issue brief on this topic.
Our speakers:
| Letter from Katie Albright |
| June 8, 2022 To my dear friends and partners of the Safe & Sound Community, I have some important news to share with you. After much reflection, I have decided to step away from my position as President and Chief Executive Officer effective February 1, 2023. During the next eight months, I will be working closely with our Board, partners, and amazing team at Safe & Sound to find my replacement, and have committed to continuing as a special projects advisor until April 2023. It’s been almost sixteen years since I took on this role with the goal of fostering a collective vision to build a community that protects children, strengthens families, and ends child abuse. Together, we have accomplished so much over these many years. While there is still more to be done, it is clear that Safe & Sound has built a strong foundation towards ending child abuse and creating conditions for all families to thrive. Our shared success includes contributing to the national framework for prevention, the statewide recognition of and commitment to family resource centers as a community pathway for prevention, and the local innovation of two-generation family-focused programming. I am tremendously grateful to the talented and dedicated team of staff members and volunteers who reach thousands of children, parents, caregivers, and providers each year, as well as partner, educate, and advocate to ensure our community’s wellbeing. In partnership with government and community leaders, we have advanced local and statewide initiatives that have improved family outcomes, contributing to a 67% reduction in the rate of child abuse and a 61% reduction in entries into foster care in San Francisco over the past 15 years. I am also deeply honored that the federal government named Safe & Sound to be one of nine primary prevention best-practices in the country, as well as provided funding to continue the Center for Youth Wellness’ groundbreaking work to screen for adverse childhood experiences in primary care settings across the nation. I am humbled through our work to create a trauma-informed and healing organization focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. And, I am overwhelmed with pride in our determination to bring together a multi-sector, public-private partnership to deliver emergency relief during the early months of this global pandemic that reached 43,000+ individuals through family resource centers and the San Francisco Family Resource Center Alliance and raised more than $25M+ for our community. Looking forward, this is an exciting time for Safe & Sound. In the coming months, I will join with the Board and internal team to adopt our new strategic plan that is deeply committed to anti-racism and creates operational clarity, programmatic synergy, and financial versatility. I will work closely with the Board and my colleagues to ensure a successful leadership transition. The vision that together we are realizing will provide a robust onramp for the next leader of this organization that we hold so dear. The decision to leave Safe & Sound has not been an easy one, particularly because of the incredible people with whom I am so privileged to work. I will always carry with me the deepest admiration for my Safe & Sound colleagues. The honor to work with excellent staff members, passionate volunteers, transformational government and community partners, committed donors, and a dedicated Board has been profoundly inspiring and full of joy. I appreciate your support, guidance, and friendship over these many years. I will treasure and certainly miss our time together. We will have many opportunities over the coming months to connect. I look forward to staying in touch and getting together. With deep appreciation and respect for the entire Safe & Sound community,  Katie Albright Chief Executive Officer |
| Letter from Board of Directors Co-Chairs P. Wayne Osborne & Sarah Whitelaw |
| June 8, 2022 Dear Safe & Sound Community, We have some important news to share. After much reflection, Katie Albright has decided to step away as our President and Chief Executive Officer effective February 1, 2023, having then served our community for sixteen years. On behalf of the entire Safe & Sound Board of Directors, we wish to convey our deepest gratitude to Katie for her outstanding leadership and service. Her leadership will be deeply missed. This time marks one of reflection and appreciation as we consider all that the Safe & Sound community has accomplished during her tenure. Leading always with her values, Katie has demonstrated her commitment to pursuing a journey of equity and inclusion over her tenure – never wavering, indeed stronger, in crisis and challenge. Under her leadership, Safe & Sound has become a nationally recognized children’s advocacy organization – named one of nine best primary abuse prevention practices in the country – dedicated to improving the safety, health, and well-being of children and families through services, education, collaboration, and advocacy. Throughout the challenges of the global pandemic faced these past few years, Katie has been the inspiring and trusted leader that our community needed. Her constant calm and action over this time has provided stability and hopefulness – mobilizing government and community partners to deliver emergency relief and monetary support to thousands of children, parents, and caregivers in our community during their greatest time of need. Thanks to the incredible and very talented team of employees and volunteers, Safe & Sound has become a trusted community anchor for thousands of families – a place for caring and responsive support and services. We are recognized as a national innovator, effective policy advocate, and transformative leader in child and family well-being. And, through the team’s talent, we are known to be a constant collaborator with well-established and effective public-private partnerships, as well as funding relationships with numerous child-serving organizations throughout the country, state, region, and city. These collaborations and partnerships have profoundly broadened and deepened the impact for the community. Together with the full Board, we are extremely confident about our future. Given our reputation, visibility, and financial stability, we are well-positioned to attract a highly qualified and visionary leader for our next chapter. Safe & Sound’s Board is entrusted to hire our next CEO and, with that, helping to set the path to our future. We will remain vigilant to our goals that all children are safe and families thrive as part of an equitable and anti-racist system that promotes well-being. Initially, the Board will focus on a thoughtful approach to this leadership transition, developing ways for the community to become involved, and supporting Safe & Sound through this time of change. The Board will actively work with the internal team of employees to set the path and to inform the profile and search for the next leader, and is committed to engaging clients, volunteers, and community members throughout the transition. Katie will continue to lead the organization until the beginning of February 2023 as we identify a new CEO, and work to ensure a smooth transition. She has also agreed to stay on as a special projects advisor through April 2023 to continue supporting the transition. Looking forward, we will create opportunities to celebrate Katie’s leadership and thank her for service to our community. Until then, please join us in expressing profound appreciation to Katie for her contributions to our community. Very truly yours, P. Wayne Osborne & Sarah Whitelaw Co-Chairs, Board of Directors |
SAN FRANCISCO and EAST WINDSOR, N.J., June 6, 2022 – Safe & Sound’s Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), the New Jersey Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics (NJAAP), today announced that it is seeking the next cohort of pediatric practices for participation in its Trauma-Informed ACEs Screening & Intervention Evaluation Project Echo (TASIE Project).
Safe & Sound was awarded a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and is working in partnership, through the CYW, with the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (NJAAP). The grant awarded is to launch a 3-year initiative called the “TASIE Project.” The aim is to develop a scalable model to help pediatric healthcare teams to integrate ACEs screening, trauma-informed, and strengths-based interventions into a pediatric primary care setting.
According to the National Survey of Children’s Health, 34.8 million children across the United States are impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). ACEs are exposures in childhood to abuse, neglect, parental incarceration, divorce, or domestic violence that have been shown to affect virtually every domain in which a child functions. ACEs are associated with health impairment across the life course and are strongly related to the prevalence of numerous health problems.
The CYW and NJAAP team will train and provide coaching to practice sites to implement an ACEs screening and intervention pilot using the Pediatric ACEs and Life Events Screener (PEARLS) tool and the Seven Domains of Wellness. In addition, the practice sites will participate in a 9-month Quality Improvement Project ECHO (Extension for Community Health Outcomes). Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH) reviewed the project and found that it does not meet the definition of research involving human subjects as defined by DHHS and FDA regulations. Therefore, it did not require review and approval by the HMH Institutional Review Board.
Selected practices will be provided with a $15,000 stipend as well as CME/MOC Part 2 and 4 Points. The RFP Application for Cohort 2 will open on June 7, 2022. Applications will be due on July 29, 2022. Interested pediatric practices should visit the “TASIE Project” website (www.njaap.org/tasie) for eligibility requirements, important dates, and informational webinars. Cohort 2 will run from September 2022 through May 2023.
Contact:
Karissa Luckett
Senior Clinical and Quality Operations Director
Karissa.Luckett@safeandsound.org
469-600-6939
About Safe & Sound
Safe & Sound, a nationally recognized, San Francisco-based child advocacy organization, seeks to strengthen families and end child abuse through trauma-informed, evidence-based services, education, partnership, and advocacy. Safe & Sound has helped lead systems change that has reduced the rate of child abuse in San Francisco by 65% and reduced entries into foster care by over 50% in the last 15 years. Founded in 1973, Safe & Sound has worked for nearly five decades to prevent child abuse and reduce its devastating impact. Safe & Sound recently merged with the Center for Youth Wellness leading national efforts to advance pediatric medicine and transform the way society responds to children exposed to ACEs and toxic stress. Safe & Sound’s vision is to end child abuse in San Francisco in two generations (50 years). Each year, its programs reach approximately 10,000 children, parents, and caregivers throughout the San Francisco Greater Bay Area. Website: https://safeandsound.org/
About NJAAP
New Jersey Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of children in the state of New Jersey. The growing Chapter represents over 1,900 pediatricians and other pediatric healthcare professionals located in every county throughout New Jersey. NJAAP provides a strong voice on behalf of children, the adults in their lives, and the pediatricians who care for them. The Chapter is a Project ECHO Hub and a Pediatric Portfolio Sponsor for the American Board of Pediatrics, which authorizes the Chapter to develop Part 2 and Part 4 activities including those that are focused on QI and improving professional practice. NJAAP has a long history of providing QI education to pediatric practices. In the last five years alone, NJAAP has offered 13 MOC Part 4 programs on topics including ACEs, Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention, and Mental Health. Website: https://njaap.org/
About HRSA
HRSA programs provide equitable health care to people who are geographically isolated and economically or medically vulnerable. HRSA’s mission is to improve health outcomes and achieve health equity through access to quality services, a skilled health workforce, and innovative, high-value programs. The Maternal and Child Health Bureau administers programs, supports research, and invests in workforce training to ensure the health and well-being of mothers, children, and families across their lives. In partnership with states and communities, the Bureau supports health care and public health services for an estimated 55 million people nationwide.
This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $960,000 with no percentage financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.
This was the first session in our 2022 Lunch & Learn series about the facts and faces of prevention, designed to expand our collective understanding of what is considered child abuse and neglect, and the role of prevention strategies.
In this session our expert speakers presented compelling data, shared perspectives and engaged in a robust dialogue on changing the narrative of abuse and neglect.
Our speakers:
