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He was a dear friend and constant champion for children.

Today, our founder, Dr. Grossman, passed away. It was in 1973 when Dr. Moses Grossman began to create a city safe for all kids.

While Chief of Pediatrics at UCSF / San Francisco General Hospital he saw first-hand the injustices to children, daily. Rather than treat children who have been hurt, he wanted to prevent them from ever feeling the pain of abuse.

In effort to protect these innocent young people, Dr. Grossman founded the San Francisco Child Abuse Council to develop policies and best practices regarding child abuse prevention and response. Long past his tenure at the hospital, Dr. Grossman continued to champion the rights, health, and safety of all children.

An unknowable number of children are safe and healthy thanks to Dr. Grossman’s vision, passion, and willingness to actually do something.

We stand on his shoulders, and we are forever grateful. Now, decades later, his legacy and work continues under our new name Safe & Sound.

“…When I arrived at San Francisco General Hospital, in 1960, as chief of the department there, I found that child abuse is pretty prevalent in our society, in San Francisco as elsewhere. There were so many instances of child abuse, and the community resources for managing these cases were poor. There was poor coordination between the health department and or health resources, the social services, the police…So I felt that because we were reporting all these cases it was very important for our department and for me personally to get involved with making sure that after the reporting, something constructive and not destructive was done.” – Dr. Grossman
 

Every year, Safe & Sound hosts our annual Holiday Toy Store and Meal Program. This beloved program gives parents the opportunity to select free gifts for their children in our Holiday “Toy Store” and gift cards to families for holiday meals.

This tradition is essential for parents during this stressful time of year. At Safe & Sound about 90% of families we serve are low income, and about 20% are homeless. The stress of the holidays along with those of daily life make families even more vulnerable to abuse.

This year, we are harnessing the power of #GivingTuesday to provide this important program with the supplies needed to bring a little light to families during this festive time of year. You can support this longstanding Safe & Sound tradition in one of two ways:

  1. Send a text to 56512 that reads: SAFE {SPACE} $ Amount {SPACE} Your Name (Your text should look like SAFE $250 RYAN HAZELTON)
  2. Drop off new toys, clothing or books for the Toy Store at our Haight-Ashbury family support center at 1757 Waller Street from December 4-8.

We are so grateful for your help in bringing joy into the lives of our children and families this holiday season!

 

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How the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center became Safe & Sound.

Earlier this month, I let you know that the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center would be changing its name. Today, I am proud to announce that we are officially Safe & Sound.

For more than 44 years, we’ve been at the forefront of child abuse prevention. During these decades, our organization — in partnership with you and others — has made remarkable strides in protecting our city’s children and advocating for their safety. Yet, every day we are reminded of how much more there is to do if we’re going to achieve our goal of ending child abuse in San Francisco and reducing it in surrounding communities.

As we work towards this end, we felt one thing held us back from fully embracing this audacious goal — our name. Therefore, on September 26, the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center became Safe & Sound.

Each and every day we work to create a society where children are safe, families are strong, and communities are sound.

Our journey to a new name took more than a year and a great deal of thought. As you can imagine, it was not easy giving up our cherished name, but we felt it was the right and necessary decision.

Safe & Sound allows us to unify our work. Today, we are many things — and names — to so many different people (such as San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, TALK Line Family Support Center, Kids’ Turn, Child Abuse Council, SafeStart, and more). By presenting our programs under a single name, we will significantly enhance the community’s ability to identify our organization and seek our services.

Safe & Sound allows us to focus on safety. Though our mission is focused on child abuse prevention, our work is focused on creating a future without it. We work to create joyous childhoods where child abuse is no longer a concept.

Safe & Sound allows us to expand our impact. Over four decades we have woven child-focused policies and programs into the fabric of San Francisco. As we look to the future we will continue to reach far beyond the borders of San Francisco, scaling our model and sharing our successes to support the safety and well-being of children and their families everywhere.

On a very practical level we encountered several challenges with the name San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center. It’s a mouthful, causing people to stumble through it and often forget the very key word of “prevention.” And, the term “abuse” carries a stigma deterring the very families who need our services the most from seeking our support.

Make no mistake, our mission, our work, our programs, and our people remain the same.

We believe in a future where every child grows up safe, protected, and loved. Join us in taking a stand to make that a reality.

Stay tuned. Over the coming month, we’ll be sharing with you our future initiatives as we work towards this reality. For now, take a look at how big this problem really is, how we’re planning to reduce and ultimately end child abuse, and the work we do everyday to protect children in our community.

About a month ago at our annual Blue Ribbon Luncheon, I shared our vision with the 600+ supporters and advocates who filled Grand Ballroom at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. Together, we not only raised more funds than ever ($750,000+) to support the work of the Prevention Center, but the energy around our mission of preventing child abuse and our goal of ending it in our city was palpable. It was a truly special day.

To all who joined us on May 12, thank you. To our chairs Wayne Osborne and Jill Woodman, and to our auction hosts David Glickman and Richard Pio Roda, thank you. To our keynote, Wes Moore your words will forever inspire me and call me to not just compassion but action — thank you. To each and every one of you, thank you for joining us in this work.

For those who were not able to be in the room with us, I would like to share with you my remarks — why it is I believe we can end child abuse. You can read them right here.

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It’s Child Abuse Prevention Month: time to stand up and step out. Join us online and in-person at San Francisco City Hall (April 4 @ 11AM) to show your support for the children of San Francisco. Every child deserves a safe and happy childhood; yet, our city continues to have one of the highest rates of child abuse in the Bay Area. While the widening economic divide in the City puts more children at risk for abuse, child abuse crosses all zip codes, socio-economic levels, ethnicities, and family structures.

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Child Safety Awareness Program in action with Ms. Brianna in the classroom.

Gabriella raised her hand and asked to speak with Ms. Brianna privately. At the end of the lesson, outside the 5th grade classroom in the elementary school hallway, Gabriella asked whether it was okay that her parents touched her private body parts, the parts that her swimsuit cover. Ms. Brianna reminded Gabriella of the differences between a safe and unsafe touch. Gabriella nodded with understanding and started talking about how uncomfortable she felt at home, and how much she disliked being touched by her parents.

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Paul_SignCollecting and using data is one of the ways we improve our programs to help families and children. As one of two Data Managers at the Prevention Center, I have had the privilege of working closely with our staff who support families, empower children, and educate our community. Many of our findings are very positive — for example, more than 75% of families who are at high-risk for child abuse who receive individualized services, demonstrate improvement in family functioning after working with us for at least three months. However, analyzing our data also raised some good questions:

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A mother walks in the door. She is tired, stressed, and trying to care for three kids. She does not remember having a loving mother herself. Her father worked all the time. He was not there to shield his daughter from her mother’s blows. Now this daughter is trying to be the loving mother she never had. It is not easy. She needs help.

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On Thursday, 600+ people gathered together at the Fairmont Hotel to show their support for our one shared mission: to stop child abuse in our city. It was the 19th Annual Blue Ribbon Luncheon. I am proud that we raised essential funds to support the children and families we serve , but what really got me was the passion and excitement in the room. It was inspiring to see so many allies in one room dedicated to protecting children. It gives me hope that we can, in fact, end child abuse in this city. It gives me hope for the future of our community.

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April Website GraphicFor the first time ever, San Francisco’s City Hall will be lit up blue on Tuesday, April 5 in recognition of National Child Abuse Prevention Month. City Hall’s blue dome will serve as a symbol of our city coming together to shine a light on child abuse and remind us that everyone has a part in strengthening families and keeping kids safe.

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