Creating the Conditions That Keep Children Safe

Abuse against children is not random. It happens in conditions that can be identified, and those conditions can be changed.

Poverty, isolation, alcohol and substance misuse, the normalisation of violence in the home, and the absence of adults who are willing to intervene all increase the risk that a child will be harmed. Our work on the prevention of child abuse begins with these conditions. We work to reduce them, and we work to strengthen the protections around children so that when a child is at risk, someone notices and something is done.

We do not treat prevention as a single programme. It is a set of activities that together reduce the likelihood that a child will be abused, and increase the likelihood that abuse will be identified and stopped when it does occur. We work with families, schools, communities, and local institutions, because the protection of a child is not something any one of these can provide alone.

Our Goals

Working with families and caregivers

Working With Families

How it works:

  • We work with families to reduce the pressures that lead to abuse. Many parents who harm their children are themselves under extreme stress — from poverty, from hunger, from the loss of a livelihood, from illness, or from the burden of caring for more children than they can manage.
  • Our sessions with parents and caregivers address these pressures directly. We work with families to identify the moments when stress is most likely to turn into violence, and we help them find ways of responding that do not harm the child.
  • We also work with families to strengthen the relationships between parents and children, because a child who is securely attached to a caregiver is less likely to be harmed and more likely to speak up if something happens.

We work with health facilities and other services to make sure that when a child is identified as being at risk, there is a place for that child to go. Prevention is not only about stopping abuse from happening. It is also about making sure that when abuse is identified, the response is prompt and adequate. This means knowing which health facilities can provide care, which authorities can intervene, and which services can support a child through the process of recovery. We work with these services to strengthen their capacity, to clarify their roles, and to make sure that the referral pathways that exist are known to the people who need to use them.

We work to address the underlying conditions that put children at risk. Alcohol and substance misuse in the home, the absence of a caregiver, the economic pressures that force families into crisis, and the social isolation that leaves parents without support — these are the conditions in which abuse is most likely to occur. We work with communities and local institutions to address them where we can, and to connect families to the services that can help. Prevention is not only about the child. It is about the environment in which the child is growing up.

The prevention of child abuse is not a programme with an end date. It is an ongoing commitment to the conditions that determine whether a child is safe. We do not expect to eliminate abuse. We expect to reduce its likelihood, to shorten its duration when it occurs, and to strengthen the response so that fewer children carry the consequences of abuse into their adult lives. That is the work, and it continues as long as children need protection.

Our commitment

Preventing child abuse requires the engagement of families, teachers, community members, and services working together to reduce the conditions in which abuse occurs and to respond when it does.

Join us in protecting children

Help us prevent child abuse and ensure that every child grows up safe, supported and protected. Support our campaign, volunteer your time, or partner with us to protect children in Kenya.

Every action counts—only a willingness to act is required.

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Teenagers in Nigeria playing and dancing at a safe space for women and girls

Preventing child abuse

Preventing child abuse requires the engagement of families, teachers, community members, and services working together to reduce the conditions in which abuse occurs and to respond when it does.