"Someone will notice, and someone will care": How to build Strong Communities for Children.

Derived from the recommendations of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, Strong Communities for Children is a universal community-wide approach to prevention of child maltreatment. It is intended to change community norms-to facilitate informal support for families and to strengthen parents' belief that they can improve the quality of life for their own and their neighbors' families. A phased intervention, Strong Communities begins with recruitment and mobilization of volunteers, initially to spread Strong Communities' messages and ultimately to provide direct assistance to families of young children. Principle-driven, Strong Communities uses assets in the community to expand and strengthen networks of supportive relationships and, in particular, to increase support to parents. At least in concept, Strong Communities appears to be applicable in highly disparate communities and societies.

Strong communities for children: a community-wide approach to prevention of child abuse and neglect.

In 1990, the US Advisory Board declared a national emergency in the child protection system, which was nothing short of a disaster. In calling for a new approach to child protection, the Board argued that only a universal system of family support, grounded in the creation of caring communities, could provide an effective foundation for ensuring children's safety. Strong Communities for Children is the first initiative to attempt a comprehensive, large-scale implementation of the Board's proposed strategy. Using a public health approach, Strong Communities blends research about the causes and correlates of child abuse and neglect with public health concepts of community-wide prevention and intervention. Strong Families, the direct service component of Strong Communities, relies heavily on the health sector for the engagement of families.

Community life, public health, and children's safety.

As the US Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect recognized in the early 1990s, the challenges posed by (a) the ongoing crisis in the child protection system and (b) the generational decline in social capital are intertwined. This issue of Family and Community Health, 31.2, discusses the conceptualization, implementation, and effects of Strong Communities for Children, the first large-scale application of the board's vision for a neighborhood-based child protection system. Having already demonstrated effectiveness in mobilizing large numbers of volunteers and organizations in diverse communities, Strong Communities has potential usefulness not only in promoting child safety but also in meeting other important goals for community health.