Safe Place: The Center for Child Protection and Health

Overview

Over the last 25 years, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has developed the region's — and one of the nation's — most comprehensive programs to address the critical issues of child abuse, neglect and placement in substitute care.

Safe Place: The Center for Child Protection and Health is designed to provide the resources needed to address the medical and psychosocial needs of children at risk.

We are staffed by an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, mental health professionals, social workers and other Hospital personnel. Our goal is to serve the southeastern Pennsylvania region as a resource for clinical services, research, education and advocacy for children, families and the community.

Clinical services

Our clinical mission is to provide comprehensive interdisciplinary evaluation and healthcare for maltreated children and those in substitute care. We provide:

Prevention

Within the Hospital, early identification of children at risk, coupled with appropriate home support referrals, improves the outcome of patients. The team's efforts at prevention have expanded with the development of a statewide education program for primary care physicians to increase early recognition and reporting of child abuse.

Permanency

We collaborate with biological, foster and adoptive parents, as well as child welfare professionals and agencies, to ease the process of finding a permanent home for every child.

Education

In addition to formal physician fellowships, Safe Place provides training for physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals. To further our goal of improved outcomes for children, we offer a number of educational programs for foster parents and for child welfare and law enforcement professionals. Our staff is nationally renowned for its expertise, teaching and educational programs.

Research

Safe Place has a strong commitment to advancing the medical community's understanding of child abuse, its consequences, prevention, and the impact on children in substitute care.

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