Safe & Sound CEO Dr. Pegah Faed was recently featured on the Wisconsin Institute for Child and Family Well-being podcast to discuss how narrative change can reshape systems that serve families experiencing stress, isolation, or poverty.
Dr. Faed explains that dominant narratives often frame struggling families as a risk rather than as families in need of support. These perceptions can influence decisions every day in schools, clinics, and mandated-reporting situations. Drawing on findings from Safe & Sound’s Economics of Child Abuse report, showing that roughly 87% of child protective services reports in California are not substantiated; Wisconsin data are nearly identical. These unsubstantiated reports frequently reflect unmet needs such as unstable housing, lack of childcare, and limited access to mental health and economic supports—not child abuse.
This reality underscores a critical opportunity: to shift from a system that reacts to perceived risk toward one that proactively supports family well-being.
Safe & Sound continues to advocate for a child and family well-being system that responds earlier, strengthens community-based supports, and shifts narratives that equate poverty with parental harm. Listen to the full episode.
Read and explore the Economics of Child Abuse report and interactive county data.