Safe Shores — The DC Children’s Advocacy Center
For 30 years, Safe Shores has provided trauma-responsive services that honor human dignity — ensuring every child who comes through their doors is met with safety, high-quality care, and a team of dedicated multidisciplinary partners. They offer a wide range of services to support local children who have faced abuse and related trauma: critical therapy sessions, forensic interviews, and advocacy services that give children someone to believe them and help them heal. Their team coordinates across city agencies so that children and families don’t have to navigate the system alone. They are, in many ways, the safety net beneath the safety net. Grant funding from Champions for Children supports their comprehensive response — expanding therapy capacity, funding forensic interviews, sustaining advocacy services, and bringing abuse prevention training into DC schools.
“Andrea came to us after disclosing abuse — tearful, withdrawn, feeling like she didn’t belong. Through therapy, she has made tremendous progress. Now she is thriving, more emotionally regulated, and feels like life is worth living — and that her abuse will not be the only part of her story.”
— Safe Shores therapistToo many children in DC are navigating abuse and mental health crises with little, if any, support. We can change that — and Safe Shores is where that change happens for some of DC’s most vulnerable kids.
Andrea’s story is a Safe Shores success story: a child who came in overwhelmed and left with tools, connection, and hope. Champions for Children’s grant has directly strengthened Safe Shores’ clinical team, expanding their capacity to serve more children than ever before — on track to deliver 300 more therapy sessions this year than last.
Your support extends that reach to more children and their families when at their most vulnerable. Help us create more stories like Andrea’s.