Safe & Sound

Child abuse is a complex problem, an invisible epidemic that happens more than you can imagine. We must recognize child abuse is not somebody else's problem.

Safe & Sound envisions a future free from childhood trauma, where all children, families, and communities are
safe, supported, and loved.

Safe & Sound Strategic Plan sets forth Priorities that are the basis for Safe & Sound’s long-term vision for the next three years. Harnessing insights gained from our research and human-centered design workshops created by People Rocket and conducted with involvement across the organization and within the community, we saw the importance of building distinct and growth-oriented priorities. In initiating this co-designed strategic plan, we further aimed to build off of our successes and lessons learned from our challenges overcome these past few years. These Priorities are an overarching umbrella that families, community, and team members can consider as our North Star:
➔ Pathways Toward Healing & Equity Safe & Sound strives to be a healing organization and lead within a trauma-informed system to improve community wellbeing for everyone.
➔ Collective Impact We seek to continuously improve our programming to better meet the needs of children, families, and community at the local, state, and national level.
➔ Operational Clarity We understand the importance of workplace wellness through effective communication; expanded training; and, people-centered, equitable, and data-driven decisions and infrastructure enhancements.
➔ Sustainable Growth We recognize and support the potential of all employees, volunteers, donors, investors, and partners to further our vision, mission, and values.

For nearly 50 years, Safe & Sound served San Francisco and the Greater Bay Area community, by being an advocate for children, educate the community, and support families. Our comprehensive programming aims to improve the health of children, families, and communities exposed to child abuse, neglect, trauma, and other adverse childhood experiences through trauma-informed interventions, trainings, and community resources. Our work includes: 1) advocating for laws, policies, and practices with government and community organizations to strengthen families and improve the child abuse response system and safety net; 2) partnering with the community and educating children, adults, and child-serving professionals to understand and prevent abuse and neglect; and 3) supporting families with evidence-informed and strengths-based services that bolster the safety and stability of families—with no shame, no blame, and no stigma. We are a safe and trusted place where families can ask for and receive help. Safe & Sound has the capacity, expertise, collaborative relationships, and envisions a future free from childhood trauma, where all children, families, and communities are safe, supported, and loved.
One of our core strengths has always been to remain resilient in a changing landscape and continually to advocate for children and families. We pivoted services and mobilized millions of dollars during crises in recent years: growing economic inequities, affordable housing shortages, restrictive immigration policies, wildfires, and COVID-19. We have done all this while continuing to reach approximately 12k children, parents, caregivers, and child-serving professionals annually. We have been guided by a trauma-informed and healing lens, working to recognize our own complicity in unjust and oppressive systems.
Safe & Sound strives to be a healing organization and lead within a trauma-informed system to improve community wellbeing for everyone. We cannot heal without acknowledging our own history of contributing to the trauma of marginalized, oppressed, and underrepresented communities. We will challenge and confront oppression of all kinds within our own practices and culture. As a safer, braver organization, we can better advocate for the children, families, and community we support. We believe in working across generations to empower children, enable parents, and support families, where Protective Factors are core to strengthening families, building communities, and are at the heart of the work we do. We utilize an evidence-informed approach that allows us to effectively design our programs, measure their impact, and innovate to achieve improved outcomes. Finally, we believe that everyone has a role to play in ending child abuse, neglect and trauma, and must work in partnership to create collective impact—a collaborative approach to tackling complex social problems, which activates stakeholders across sectors to create change.

Over the past 15 years, our programs have directly served over 150,000 individuals and contributed to a 64% reduction in the rate of child abuse and a 46% reduction in entries into foster care in San Francisco. And we are positioned to serve even more in the future. We’re thrilled and honored that next year marks 50 years of Safe & Sound standing as a pillar in our community! Our work advances our vision of a future free from childhood trauma, where all children, families, and communities are safe, supported, and loved. Ending abuse and neglect has the potential to change the path of the lives of children, and to save our community billions in societal costs related to health care, law enforcement, and incarceration each year.
In June 2021, the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) and Safe & Sound joined together as one organization to strengthen families with an intentional focus on expanding our trauma informed services to address the huge medical and economic toll of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
Over the last year, 8,200 children and caregivers were served through Safe & Sound’s suite of supportive services—representing a 29% increase over previous years.
In addition, through collaboration, advocacy, and research, Safe & Sound has continued to improve collective action and policy to transform systems to prevent and respond to abuse in our community, our region, state, and nationwide. Highlights of the growing impact of our policy work include: ● Collaborated with Family and Children Services to better engage community organizations in planning for the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA). We share more information below about this transformative legislation. ● 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. ● Collaborated with many state and local partners to create the Data Playbook For Prevention Action Planning. ● 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. ● 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.