Welcome to Safe Children!

Thank you for visiting our website. Safe Children Incorporated is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 under the belief that America's efforts to address domestic, familial and criminal violence can be measurably improved if we focus on nurturing kind, constructive relationships with and for America's children.

Why Infants and Toddlers?

Children in this age group are at an especially high risk for severe injury and death if and when corporally punished, as proven by U.S. national child abuse data published in the annual report 'Child Maltreatment,' which shows us that:

- 10.6 per 1,000 of America's children are confirmed victims of abuse or neglect, by standards that still allow assault against children provided it doesn't put them in a hospital or endanger their lives. If we include all violence upon children, the rates are far higher.
- 3 children die in the U.S. every day due to abuse and neglect.

Among those killed by abuse:

- Over 75 percent are under 3 years of age.
- 44 percent are younger than 1 year old.

These are terrible figures. We must do more to address them.

Based on many studies of cognitive development in young children, there is also a great deal of evidence to prove that children under two years of age are too little to understand a parent's choice to strike as a reaction to the child. (See the 'Our Focus' section for more on these and other related topics.) Hitting can't be called discipline if the child doesn't understand why it's done.

If you agree, we invite you to add your name as a signature to the petition 'Prohibit Shaking and Hitting Infants' ahead of the next Law Review Commission meeting about Title 9!

Epidemic Assault of Babies

Most of us have heard horror stories in the news about atrocities committed against small children. It's hard to forget them. But few people are aware of just how many children are killed by 'blunt force trauma' every year, and by whom. As mentioned, 3 children die every day from abuse in the U.S. Most of them are infants and toddlers.

More than 80 percent of the murderers of these small victims are the children's own parents.

It's possible that some of these murders were disciplinary "accidents." After all, even though infants and toddlers are at very high risk of injury from being struck, people still do it anyway. Per an article published by Pediatrics in June 2009 (Source), mothers who were hit as children are far more likely to hit their own children, and 1 in 10 reported spanking their infants. According to another study, reprinted on our blog (Article), 1 in 3 mothers reported hitting children only 1 year of age. Another study about the causes and effects of child abuse corroborates that figure. (Source.)

Considering that these very young assault victims make up roughly HALF of the children murdered by abuse every year in the United States, we have to address this epidemic legally-permitted means of maltreatment with some stronger standards for how infants may be treated, in anyone's care.

Help Us Find the Right Words!

We are reconsidering language toward a request to have shaking, striking and other physical maltreatment of infants regarded as cruelty and/or abuse of a child. What word or words would you use in a statute level definition of child abuse so that those choices are established as unreasonable ones? Click here to tell us!

Congratulations to New Mexico!

New Mexico has become the 31st state to altogether ban the practice of beating kids with wooden boards in school. Congratulations to New Mexico's students and to all of the human rights efforts to secure this important educational asset for them!

photo photo photo photo