What are the Important Components?

Promoting safe, stable, and nurturing environments is essential in preventing early adversity, including child maltreatment, and in assuring that all children reach their full potential.

Safety, stability, and nurturing are three qualities of relationships that are critical for children as they grow. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines them as:

  • Safety: The extent to which a child is free from fear and secure from physical or psychological harm within their social and physical environment.
  • Stability: The degree of predictability and consistency in a child’s social, emotional, and physical environment.
  • Nurturing: The extent to which children’s physical, emotional, and developmental needs are sensitively and consistently met.

Promoting these types of relationships and environments benefits from the comprehensive efforts and actions of many sectors. In “Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect: A Technical Package for Policy, Norm, and Programmatic Activities,” the Division of Violence Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention proposes the following strategies and approaches to address child abuse and neglect across different levels of the socio-ecological model (Society, Communities, Relationships, and Individuals).

The following strategies and approaches may work in combination, forming a truly comprehensive and multi-faceted prevention ecosystem.


Strengthen economic supports to families

  • Strengthening household financial security
  • Family-friendly work policies

Change social norms to support parents and positive parenting

  • Public engagement and education campaigns
  • Legislative approaches to reduce corporal punishment

Provide quality care and education early in life

  • Preschool enrichment with family engagement
  • Improved quality of child care through licensing and accreditation

Enhance parenting skills to promote healthy child development

  • Early childhood home visitation
  • Parenting skill and family relationship approaches

Intervene to lessen harms and prevent future risk

  • Enhanced primary care
  • Behavioral parent training programs
  • Treatment to lessen harms of abuse and neglect exposure
  • Treatment to prevent problem behavior and later involvement in violence