Center for Child Protection

UCSF's Center for Child Protection located in Oakland offers complete medical and mental health services for children affected by abuse and exposure to violence. Research shows that when health care providers ask about domestic violence, more victims disclose abuse and seek help, and also that a specially trained health care provider – who knows how best to offer encouragement and support – can ease the way for someone to become open to receiving needed services. We are always aware of these considerations when providing routine as well as urgent care, and we have become one of Northern California's leading resources for child protective services (CPS) in a medical setting.

Why families choose us

Child abuse services in Alameda County

• There are nearly 20,000 cases of child abuse reported every year in Alameda County. Our staff is responsible for ensuring that these cases are evaluated and that children receive the physical and emotional care they need.
• Our services include crisis intervention, case management and service coordination for follow-up medical care, reporting to CPS and law enforcement, victim and witness assistance programs, and case consultations with outside agencies.

Leading professionals

Our center is led by one of the only doctors in California who has fellowship training in child abuse and neglect. He is also one of only two forensic pediatricians in the Bay Area, meaning he can perform exams to collect and preserve evidence of abuse.

Specialty programs for ongoing support

• We offer education, screening, counseling and advocacy services for battered caregivers and children who have witnessed or been exposed to domestic violence.
• For continuing care, we provide educational programs for parents and professionals; prevention services in schools and community centers throughout Alameda County; psychosocial assessments of children and families; and individual, family and group psychotherapy.

A special program for early abuse prevention

• As a strategy in the early prevention of child abuse, the center's pioneering DOVES (Domestic Violence Education and Screening) Project provides individual and group talk therapy for children and their battered caregivers.
• The project's mission is to create a culturally sensitive environment in the setting of pediatric care that enables caregivers to disclose domestic violence, mobilize for safety, and heal from trauma in both their children's lives and their own.
• Educational services include:

• Camp Creating Confident People – This children's camp combines the typical summer camp experience with group talk therapy for kids with trauma related to abuse or other violence.
• Kidpower workshops – These workshops teach children and adolescents skills for keeping themselves physically and emotionally safe; they also teach caregiving skills to parents and professionals who work with kids.
• Parenting After Domestic Violence – These group workshops teach healthy parenting and effective communication skills for people with a history of domestic violence.