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The Programs of Prevent Child Abuse New York (PCANY)

 

For more than 40 years, PCANY has been advocating for children by calling for increased investments in prevention, taking our case to the public, the media and the halls of the state Capitol.

 

We provide training, education and referral services to nearly 100,000 people each year. Countless more benefit from our legislative advocacy, which has helped establish and sustain child abuse prevention programs.

 

Treatment and response to cases of child abuse are critically important, but our mission is to stop child abuse BEFORE it happens. We do this by removing barriers to safe, healthy, and effective parenting through training and technical assistance, policy work and advocacy, and public awareness.

 

To achieve our goal, our programs focus on community activities and public policies that prioritize prevention right from the start.

 

  • Healthy Families New York - Healthy Families New York is the state’s preeminent child abuse prevention program. Established by PCANY in 1993, Healthy Families New York is a voluntary home-visiting program for high-risk families of infants and young children. Our training staff helps assure all families in the 39 sites across New York receive top quality services.

  • Home Visiting Coordination Initiative - The Initiative is a platform for information, education, and conversation. The intent is to provide cutting-edge information, build cross-program relationships, and offer additional opportunities for cross-systems operations. Ultimately, it aims to help programs increase staff retention and serve more families. Funding for the inaugural year was provided by a legislative award secured by Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi, Chair of the Assembly Social Services Committee. The Initiative aims to provide a model-neutral space for home visitors, supervisors, and administrators to discuss opportunities and challenges at the community and state level and hopes to provide learning opportunities—such as monthly webinars—for providers to learn and expand their skill sets in the most current and pressing topic areas needed to best support families’ success. 

  • Policy and Advocacy - Prevent Child Abuse New York advocates through this campaign for policies and programs to protect children and prevent them from abuse and neglect. We successfully advocated for the continuation of the New York State Children & Family Trust Fund's family violence prevention programs, and the establishment and growth of the Healthy Families New York program.

  • Resilience Leadership & Learning Institute (RLLI) - dedicated to strengthening concrete skills of professionals which help unlock the operationalization of authentic trauma-informed strength-based approaches. The goal is to ground professionals in how to strengthen the protective factors of the children and families they work with and contribute to organizational culture change that strengthens the protective factors of all staff.

  • New York Partnership for Child Sexual Abuse Prevention: Enough Abuse Campaign - The public-private collaborative, organized in 2012 under Prevent Child Abuse New York's leadership, has adopted the Enough Abuse campaign to build adult and community responsibility for preventing sexual abuse of children. The campaigns key strategies include mobilizing communities, educating parents and other community adults, and building youth-serving organizations' capacity to protect children.

  • The Parent Helpline - The Parent Helpline at 1-800-CHILDREN is an information and referral line that can help direct you to the services you need. It is free, confidential, and multi-lingual.  This is NOT the NYS Child Abuse Hotline. If you would like to report suspected child abuse, please call 1-800-342-3720. If you are in a crisis situation or are having a life-threatening emergency, please call 911. If you need assistance locating services such as parenting skills classes, domestic violence services, or child care, we can help. Trained staff is available to assist you Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.  If you call outside of those hours, you can leave a message and our support person will return your call the next business day. If you live outside of New York, you can find your state’s Prevent Child Abuse chapter by calling 1-800-CHILDREN or at Prevent Child Abuse America.

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