Preventing Child Abuse
Since 1878, MSPCC has been on the forefront of innovative services and passionate advocacy to protect and promote the rights and well-being of children and families. To prevent child abuse, MSPCC focuses on the needs of both the child and the parent. We know the best way to keep children safe and healthy is to promote nurturing, stable environments for children, prevent adverse childhood experiences, and intervene when trauma occurs.
We work with one child, one family at a time, and strive to advance our mission through advocacy.
We are the voice of the child.
Our Mission
Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is a private, non-profit society dedicated to leadership in protecting and promoting the rights and well-being of children and families.
Our Impact
MSPCC’s work focuses on preventing or mitigating the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, neglect, household substance abuse, household mental illness, and domestic violence. By promoting social and emotional learning and supports for children as well as tools to improve parents’ skills, MSPCC employs a two-generational approach to improve outcomes for both children and parents.
Research and brain science support our approach. Exposure to multiple and/or prolonged ACEs directly correlates to serious delays in development and to an alarming range of health and behavioral consequences that can continue throughout life. For infants and toddlers, the immediate impact can be seen in developmental delays, self-harming behaviors, inconsistent emotional functioning, inappropriate social interactions, and aggressive behaviors.
Building Strength
MSPCC combined with Eliot Community Human Services in 2016 to further strengthen the agency’s services and better address the needs of children and families. By joining forces, children and families struggling with mental health issues, domestic and community violence, abuse and neglect, and poverty have greater access to a comprehensive system of care.
Our Services
MSPCC supports pregnancy and parenting support, clinical mental health counseling and care coordination, adoptive and foster parent support, and adoption services. As a division of Eliot Community Human Services, our services are part of a continuum of care committed to the unique needs of a child and his or her family.
Our array of child abuse prevention programs, including home visiting services for young first-time parents and early childhood mental health consultation services, strengthens at-risk families by helping parents develop the skills and confidence to be engaged, loving, and confident in their ability to parent.
Interested in learning more?
Pregnancy and Parenting Support
Our Advocacy
MSPCC is proud of its long history of defining and shaping child welfare policy. Our direct service work with children and families informs our agenda, exposing trends in the challenges facing families. MSPCC advocates with state leaders to ensure that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts supports critical funding and policies to meet the needs of at-risk children and families.
The Issues: