SAFEchild
Helping Protect Children and Strengthen Families
Every child deserves to grow up in a safe, nurturing environment.
SAFEchild, which stands for Stop Abuse For Every Child, works to eliminate child abuse and empower families throughout Wake County.
Today, SAFEchild is the only organization in Wake County offering a full range of child abuse prevention and intervention services to children and families at no cost. Through prevention, parenting support, education, advocacy, and intervention, SAFEchild helps families build safer environments where children can thrive.
For the Junior League of Raleigh, SAFEchild represents something more.
It is one of the most powerful examples of how women’s leadership, community investment, and a commitment to addressing a critical need can create lasting community change.
A JLR Legacy
From Junior League Initiative to Lasting Community Impact
In 1992, the Junior League of Raleigh established SAFEchild with a bold vision: that every child should have the opportunity to grow up free from abuse and neglect.
What began through JLR’s leadership and investment grew into an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children, empowering parents, and strengthening families throughout Wake County.
JLR’s support continued as SAFEchild grew. League records document significant financial investment, volunteer leadership and thousands of hours of hands-on service in support of SAFEchild and the families it serves.
SAFEchild Today
Prevention. Support. Intervention. Advocacy.
More than three decades after its establishment, SAFEchild has grown into a comprehensive resource for Wake County children and families.
Its programs provide parenting education and support, child abuse prevention education and specialized services for children when abuse or neglect is suspected. Current programs include Moms Supporting Moms, MOVE, Circle of Security Parenting, Crianza con Cariño, Funny Tummy Feelings and the SAFEchild Advocacy Center.
The SAFEchild Advocacy Center is Wake County’s only child advocacy center. It provides comprehensive medical evaluations for children from birth through age 17 when there is an open investigation involving suspected sexual abuse, physical abuse or neglect. Children and their non-offending family members also receive advocacy and connections to additional services.
SAFEchild’s Impact
16,000+
Children and families experience SAFEchild’s support each year.
12,593
Wake County first graders were empowered through Funny Tummy Feelings in 2025.
5,400
Children have received supportive care through the SAFEchild Advocacy Center since 2011.
Prevention Starts Early
Funny Tummy Feelings
Preventing child abuse begins with giving children the knowledge and confidence to recognize when something doesn’t feel right and helping them understand that they can turn to trusted adults.
Funny Tummy Feelings is SAFEchild’s school-based child abuse prevention program for first graders. The age-appropriate program teaches children to recognize, trust, and respond to their instincts about abuse.
In 2025, the program reached thousands of first graders throughout Wake County, extending prevention education into schools across the community.
Supporting Parents. Strengthening Families.
Preventing child abuse also means giving parents and caregivers the tools, education, and support they need to create healthy family environments.
SAFEchild provides programs designed to meet families at different stages and with different needs. These include support for expectant and postpartum mothers, programs for mothers who have experienced domestic violence, parenting education focused on strengthening the parent-child relationship, and Spanish-language programming for families.
Together, these services reflect an important part of SAFEchild’s approach:
Protecting children also means strengthening the families who care for them.
JLR in Action
Generations of Service
JLR’s relationship with SAFEchild did not end when SAFEchild became an independent organization.
Over the years, generations of League members have continued to support SAFEchild and the children and families it serves.
JLR Members Have:
- Mentored new mothers
- Presented Funny Tummy Feelings child abuse prevention programming to Wake County elementary school students
- Cared for children while parents participated in SAFEchild programs
- Supported SAFEchild’s annual Angel Tree
- Contributed thousands of hours of volunteer service
JLR’s existing records report that League members have contributed more than 15,000 volunteer hours to SAFEchild.
A Legacy of Investment
JLR’s commitment to SAFEchild has included more than volunteer service.
League records document more than $1 million in financial support over a 10-year period, along with a $260,000 lead gift to help launch SAFEchild’s Comes Home campaign.
That combination of financial investment, volunteer action, and leadership demonstrates the different ways JLR can help strengthen organizations addressing critical community needs.
$1 MILLION+
Documented JLR financial support during a 10-year period
15,000+
Documented JLR volunteer hours supporting SAFEchild
Impact That Grew Beyond the League
Some of the Junior League of Raleigh’s most significant community impact can be seen in organizations and initiatives that became strong enough to grow beyond the League itself.
SAFEchild is one of those stories.
What JLR established in 1992 has grown into an independent organization providing prevention, education, parenting support, advocacy, and intervention services to thousands of Wake County children and families each year.
Identify a need. Mobilize women. Build a response. Strengthen the community.
That’s not only part of SAFEchild’s story.
It’s part of JLR’s legacy.
Continuing the Commitment
More than three decades after JLR established SAFEchild, the connection between the two organizations continues.
Through Strong Family Foundations, today’s JLR members have an opportunity to support work that generations of League members helped begin.
That creates a powerful connection between JLR’s past and present:
Women identified a community need.
They helped build a solution.
And generations later, that work continues to strengthen families throughout Wake County.
Learn More About SAFEchild
Want to learn more about SAFEchild’s programs, resources, volunteer opportunities, or ways to support its work?
WATCH SAFEchild in the news on WRAL: SAFEchild executive director Cristin Deronja discusses the group’s efforts to end child abuse and the upcoming annual gala fundraiser.