The end of April marks the end of Child Abuse Prevention Month 2025. We hope that you were able to take part in a way that was meaningful to you. We are grateful for the opportunity this month brings to share information and spread awareness about child abuse prevention with our community.
We’re delighted that so many people and organizations chose to get behind Child Abuse Prevention Month in different ways.
April may be over but our mission to create a world in which every child and family can thrive continues. Child Abuse Prevention means working with communities to keep children safe, provide the support families need to stay together, and raise children to be happy, secure, and stable adults. If you would like to be a part of that mission, please consider donating today.
Local news station KRON4 has recognized Child Abuse Prevention Month with a segment featuring Safe & Sound’s CEO Dr. Pegah Faed and a client, Alexis, who first engaged with our TALK Line over 40 years ago. Working with Safe & Sound reinforced Alexis’ inner strength to help her six-year-old child with the trauma of witnessing a shooting in their local area. “I think if I didn’t have Safe & Sound I don’t know where I’d be” – shared Alexis.
This is all part of our effort to reduce the stigma around parents getting help and support – parenting is hard, regardless of the circumstances, and Safe & Sound is here to help.
Child Abuse Prevention Month is an opportunity to take stock and celebrate “blue ribbon” individuals, organizations, and communities who have done so much to prevent child abuse and neglect, and to look forward to what can still be achieved.
The first National Child Abuse Prevention Month took place in April 1983, but child abuse is still a critical social issue. In 2023, the City and County of San Francisco had one child reported with abuse every 1.8 hours, and the Bay Area had one child reported every 9.1 minutes.
Why is the blue pinwheel used to mark Child Abuse Prevention Month?
Introduced by Prevent Child Abuse America in 2008, this symbol captures the essence of the carefree, joyful experiences that should characterize childhood. Join the campaign by putting up pinwheels inside or outside your home or workplace.
As well as the detrimental social and emotional impact of this intervention, this has a devastating economic cost. In 2023, California communities incurred a total economic burden of $16.5 billion for the lifetime costs of survivors of child abuse and neglect. To put this figure into context, approximately 1.37 million children could be sent to preschool for the same amount.
Later this month we will be publishing our landmark Economics of Child Abuse report which measures these statistics annually across all the counties of California. This will help us see a picture of how the situation is changing for our communities.
In the meantime, the first step to making lasting change is awareness. Join us in taking on the challenge of raising awareness during April. There are some simple things you can do this month to be part of the movement, like attending an event, wearing blue, reading resources, and sharing on social media.
Attend an event
There’s a whole calendar of events taking place across the Bay Area, virtually and in person, targeted at families, professionals and people interested in prevention. Attend an event and share your reflections with others. Event Calendar
Wearing blue, pinwheels and ribbons
Take a photo of you wearing blue clothing or ribbons or plant pinwheels in your yard to symbolize your commitment to keeping children safe. Here’s a handy kit to make your own pinwheel
If you post on social media, use #WearBlue4Kids and #CAPMonth
Share insights
Read a book or watch a documentary on child abuse prevention and share your insights with your network. If you follow Safe & Sound on social media, we’ll be sharing some informative posts about child abuse prevention strategies and resources – digest these and pass them on. Let’s spread awareness together!
Reach out
Connect with local community organizations and offer your support. Every effort counts in protecting children. If you are based in San Francisco, look up your local organization and see what support they need, whether that’s time, supplies or something else.
Why do we use blue ribbons to mark Child Abuse Prevention?
In 1989, the Blue Ribbon Campaign to Prevent Child Abuse had its early beginnings as a Virginia grandmother’s tribute to her grandson who died as a result of abuse. She tied a blue ribbon to the antenna of her car as a way to remember him and to alert her community to the tragedy of child abuse. The Blue Ribbon Campaign has since expanded across the country, and many wear blue ribbons each April in memory of those who have died as a result of child abuse.
So if you haven’t already been wearing your blue ribbon this month, now is the time to use it to show your commitment to prevention.
Creative challenge
Express your thoughts and feelings about child abuse prevention through art, poetry, or music. Share your creations on social media to inspire others and tag organizations dedicated to child abuse prevention.
Fundraiser
Organize a fundraiser to support child abuse prevention efforts in your community. Let’s rally together for this important cause! Safe & Sound has set an ambitious fundraising goal for this month – support us in achieving that goal so that we can continue to support children and families to thrive.
Family engagement
Get to know neighbors or new families at your child’s school and help others to do the same. Encourage families to have open and honest conversations about child abuse prevention and safety with their children. Provide resources and activities for caregivers to teach children about personal boundaries, consent, and safe adults to talk to. You can find some of these resources on Safe & Sound’s website.
Reflection
Take a moment to reflect on what you’ve learned and advocate for children in your community. Your voice matters.
Together, let’s create a safer and brighter future for every child. Let’s make April a month of awareness and action with Safe & Sound!
Safe & Sound CEO Dr. Pegah Faed was delighted to have a chat with Jim Herlihy, Host and Executive Producer of The San Francisco Experience Podcast, which aims to give a succinct, fact based analysis from a California, Silicon Valley perspective, featuring newsmakers, thought leaders and authors as guests.
Pegah and Jim had a wide ranging discussion about Safe & Sound’s work and touched upon our priority activities for the coming years. Pegah explained that prevention is the core of our work and will continue to be our priority going forward, developing a community pathway which can support families with the necessary resources before the need for child welfare involvement.
A key facet to our success is the developed trust with the families we support. As Pegah explained “We are trying to prevent cases of child abuse, neglect, trauma, we are trying to prevent families from being separated in the first place, and so we can only do that by being able to catch families before a challenge and a crisis has occurred and built trust with them, give them the knowledge, skills and behaviours to make the change.”
You can listen to the full episode on all major podcast providers and on the San Francisco Experience Podcast website here.
Now more than ever, there is a severe lack of empathy and understanding in our society. Storytelling is one way to celebrate both the diversity and commonality of the human experience. Sometimes that means Safe & Sound sharing stories and advocating for families; other times, it means handing over the mic.
That’s why we’ve partnered with The Moth to offer an exclusive storytelling workshop and coaching opportunity for our clients and supporters to tell their own stories, and we’d love for you to join us. We want to hear how being a part of the Safe and Sound community has impacted you personally – a time you felt seen for who you are, when something you did made an impact, a moment when you realized what was possible and what family could be like.
The Moth is a nonprofit dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. Since 1997, The Moth has invited over 60,000 individuals around the globe to stand in front of a live audience and share their personal and true stories. The Moth Podcast is downloaded tens of millions of times a year, and each week, the Peabody Award-winning The Moth Radio Hour, presented by PRX, is heard on over 560+ public radio stations. Here’s a link to some of the Moth staff’s favorite stories to give you an idea.
Additionally, The Moth runs storytelling workshops for students, teachers, adults, advocates, and professionals from around the world through its Education, Community Engagement, Global Community and MothWorks programs – which is where we come in. We’re offering you the opportunity to build your storytelling skills and craft your personal narrative, through a 20-person virtual workshop and, if chosen, one-to-one coaching to deliver that story live to an audience of invited guests.
Applicants must be available to attend all elements of the program.
Interactive virtual workshop
➡️ Monday, March 24th 9am-11.30am
Up to 20 lucky applicants will be selected to attend a workshop on Zoom to develop the first draft of your personal story and receive craft-focused feedback from a Moth instructor.
Story development
➡️ 1 hour, scheduled directly with Moth at your mutual convenience
After the workshop, 3 attendees will be selected to refine their story with The Moth in preparation to tell it live on stage. These selected storytellers will each have an hour to work one-on-one with The Moth to develop their submission into a story they can share confidently at the storytelling event. These sessions will be delivered virtually.
Live storytelling event
➡️ Wednesday, April 30th 6.00pm-8.00pm at Safe & Sound’s Waller Street location. NB This event will be filmed.
The three chosen storytellers will deliver their story on stage, without notes, at an intimate storytelling event of invited guests, including other workshop participants, Safe & Sound donors, clients and partners, and the storytellers’ own guests. This should shape up to be an exhilarating, inspiring event where we can learn more about ourselves and each other.
Tell us about a time you showed resilience to face your challenges
➡️ Submission Deadline: Tuesday March 18th
To apply, submit a summary of your story using this google form:
If you have any questions about this program or your submission, please email teamdev@safeandsound.org.
Remember, the best person to tell your story is you. So join us to do just that.
The San Francisco Examiner has published an article covering our work to support families, and how we hope to minimize their stress this holiday season.
In the wide-ranging piece, reporter Greg Wong uncovers why this is a critical week for Safe & Sound, featuring our annual Toy Store as well as our Blue Ribbon celebration. Safe & Sound’s CEO Pegah Faed and Chief Development Officer Brian Byrdsong also discuss the organization more broadly and what drives our work.
You can read the full article on the San Francisco Examiner website.
Safe & Sound brought together 300 guests to the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco on Saturday 7 December for their annual Blue Ribbon Celebration event. Guests were invited to ‘light up the night’ to recognize the importance of Safe & Sound’s critical mission and raise funds so they can build and expand on their work in the community.
For the last half-century, Safe & Sound has supported children and families in San Francisco, committed to their mission to prevent and reduce the impact of childhood abuse, neglect, and trauma. The families they serve are facing significant challenges, often living in San Francisco’s lowest-income neighborhoods so the support provided can be a lifeline for them.
Safe & Sound’s programming has achieved remarkable results—reaching over 200,000 individuals in the last 20 years, and creating systems-change, contributing to a 64% reduction in the rate of child abuse and a 51% reduction in entries into foster care in San Francisco.
In 2023 Safe & Sound continued to meet the direct needs of Bay Area families, serving 16,925 individuals, which represents a 47% increase over previous years.
Safe & Sound’s unwavering advocacy for a reimagined child and family well-being system has led to important changes, including an update to the state-wide reporting criteria for Children and Family Services to reduce the number of unsubstantiated and unnecessary reports which traumatize over 350,000 children a year. The work in this area is ongoing and its impact will be profound.
Safe & Sound is deeply grateful for the support from the generous community that attended this event and those that provide ongoing donations. They are helping to shape the future of their community by enabling this critical work to continue and its impact to be felt for generations to come.
Chief Executive, Pegah Faed, said: “We were delighted that this event enabled us to share the impact of our work with our guests, who between them raised $936,000 in donations so that we can build and expand on this critical support to our community.”
One way people can engage with Safe & Sound this holiday season is by participating in the Holiday Gift Program, which will make a meaningful impact on families with children in need. The annual Holiday Toy Store brings hundreds of Bay Area children joy, turning holiday wishes into reality. Each contribution helps to create a joyful, welcoming space for families where children can receive toys, clothes and books.
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About Safe & Sound:
Using a coordinated, multi-generational approach that spans the entire spectrum of prevention, Safe & Sound aims to break the cycle of childhood trauma and improve outcomes for at-risk children. They provide direct, evidence-based services to families, educate children, caregivers, and professionals to understand and respond to trauma and abuse, and collaborate with government and community organizations to transform the child welfare system into one centered on child and family well-being.
Safe & Sound was chosen as the first organization featured in Beyond the Fog’s new series highlighting the work of San Francisco nonprofits.
Interviewed at our Waller Street location, Dr. Pegah Faed, Safe & Sound CEO, explained how our work helps children grow up safely in loving, supportive environments with their families.
Safe & Sound’s direct services to families, including our 24/7 TALK Line, are the cornerstone of our organization, and also inform our advocacy work at the state and national level. We truly believe that policy and systems change should be rooted in the voices of the community to have the greatest impact. For example, Safe & Sound is taking a leadership role in the statewide effort to shift from mandated reporting to community supporting. You can read more about our efforts here: Application and Update on the Mandated Reporting to Community Supporting Task Force
Pegah also talked about her own childhood and career explaining how they fuel her passion for leading the organization that has been helping children and families thrive for over 50 years.
“I do want parents, caregivers, families to know that there are experiences that will happen inevitably in our lives and how do we reach out for help because there is help out there.”
It is with heavy hearts that we share the sad news of the passing of one of our founding members, Maria Eitz. Maria was a remarkable person, truly giving and selfless, who dedicated her life to supporting families in our community.
Maria started children’s Therapeutic Respite care out of her home in the Inner Sunset. It was the first children’s Therapeutic Respite Care Center in the nation for Talk Line, part of the San Francisco Child Abuse Center (SFCAPC, now known as Safe & Sound) for 35 years. Her dedication and passion for helping others were instrumental in building the foundation of our organization. Alongside her, pioneering individuals such as Patsy Jones, Anita Moran, Karen Wilcox, and Kathy Baxter worked tirelessly to bring SFCAPC to life, providing essential support and resources to families in need.
Maria’s contributions to our community are immeasurable. Her compassion, generosity, and unwavering commitment to helping others have left an indelible mark on all who knew her. Her vision and dedication have shaped Safe & Sound into the organization it is today, and we are forever grateful for her contributions.
In honor of Maria Eitz, we will continue to work towards a safer, healthier community for all families. More details.
Dear friends and partners,
I am honored and excited to connect with you as the new CEO of Safe & Sound.
It’s been an extraordinary first few weeks filled with warm welcomes, thoughtful team discussions, inspiring connections with families, and a sneak peek into the incredible foundation this organization has built. I am grateful to Katie for the vision and extraordinary leadership that brought us to this point, and appreciate her guidance and thoughtful transition that have paved a path for the next chapter.
As I joined the panel discussion at our first 2023 Lunch & Learn webinar, only one week into my new position, I was struck by the almost palpable shift in the conversation—from one of hoping we can move toward prevention, to one of significant change already underway to support families in remaining safe and strong in the communities they trust. This year, April’s Child Abuse Prevention Month brought unprecedented momentum for that change as California’s Family First Prevention Services Plan received federal approval, counties submitted plans that will further strengthen families, and so many efforts centered on equity and social justice to address the indisputable overrepresentation of Black, Native American, and Latinx families in child welfare.
What an amazing time to step into the CEO role with the Safe & Sound team as the organization enters its 50th year of operation. As we emerge from a pandemic that shined a bright light on broken and inequitable systems of care, we now have an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine these systems to help children, families, and communities thrive. I want every child to have a safe future, strong family, and a sound community, and I will never stop striving to remove the barriers to equity for our most marginalized communities.
Heartfelt appreciation to all of you for the partnership and support you have offered to Safe & Sound. I am a believer there is no substitute for relationships, and indeed, it is the connections we make every day with families, community partners, and system leaders that help build our collective impact. I am excited to grow those connections—together, with your support.
My personal journey has brought me to this moment, and my expertise and experience will help carry forward the movement building work already underway at Safe & Sound and across our communities and state. We all have a role to play to keep families safe and sound, and I look forward to being in this work with you.
In community,
Pegah