Safe & Sound works at the local, state, and national levels to develop systems that strengthen families and promote healing.
In partnership with government and community organizations, we advocate for laws, policies, and practices that keep children safe and families together.
By working across multiple sectors of society we are bringing awareness to the individual and societal impact of child abuse, neglect, and trauma, addressing their underlying causes and creating a strong community that protects and nurtures children.
As lead for the San Francisco Family Services Alliance, and in partnership with its members, Safe & Sound has successfully advocated for:
Multi-year, multi-million dollar funding in the San Francisco Mayor’s $51M Recovery Plan budget for FRCs.
The ability for nonprofits to receive a total allocation of $29M per year to address wages and inflation, the largest amount ever.
Funding from First 5 San Francisco to develop a City-Wide Family Advisory Council.
In 2017, we released a report, The Economics of Child Abuse: A Study of San Francisco. Working with the University of California’s Haas School of Business, we identified and quantified the cost of child abuse to San Francisco and subsequently to the entire Bay Area and State of California. In creating an in-depth case study, many of the risk factors that make families vulnerable to abuse were brought to light. With the 2023 cost of child abuse in California conservatively at $16.5 billion, The Economics of Child Abuse: California & Its Counties, makes a powerful argument for investing in prevention efforts.
In 2020 the Center for Youth Wellness, in partnership with the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (NJAAP), was awarded a $2.6MM grant from the Maternal & Child Health Bureau of the Human Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to study and provide recommendations on guidelines for screening for ACEs and providing strengths-based interventions in a pediatric primary care setting. This grant culminated in a report to Congress submitted at the end of 2023, and a report from Safe & Sound in 2024 outlining the results of all three years of the grant. You can read more on the TASIE project webpage.
Navigated California Assembly Bill 2085 through the State Assembly and before the Senate. The bill limits the definition of general neglect to only include circumstances where the child is at substantial risk of suffering serious physical harm or illness, and provides that general neglect does not include a parent’s economic disadvantage.
In collaboration with other family- and community-serving organizations, published an issue brief entitled Creating a Child & Family Well-Being System: A Paradigm Shift from Mandated Reporting to Community Supporting, outlining a path to reform our current system of mandated reporters to one of community supporters that keeps families strong and together.
Collaborated with Family and Children Services to better engage community organizations in planning for the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA).
Collaborated with many state and local partners to create the Data Playbook for Prevention Action Planning. Read the full report or executive summary.
Joined San Francisco and California leaders in condemning the anti-transgender actions of Texas state officials, including participating as amicus (friend of the court) to explain that gender-affirming care is not child abuse, and in fact, deprivation of such care and/or forcible detransition is potentially child maltreatment.