Children’s Safety Network (CSN)

Challenge

Research shows that accidental injuries are the leading cause of death in children and youth ages 0 to 19 in the United States. In 2018, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that injury-related deaths among 10- to 19-year-olds had significantly increased due to injuries, traffic accidents, substance misuse, violence, and suicide. These trends can and must be reversed.

EDC’s Children’s Safety Network (CSN) provides training and technical assistance to all U.S. state and jurisdiction health departments on evidence-based practices to prevent injuries, stop violence, and promote the well-being of children and youth. Nationwide, CSN’s tools, trainings, and technical assistance are building capacity to safeguard young people.

Key Activities

CSN guides public health professionals in using research, data, and quality improvement to protect young people and advance safety. CSN’s recent activities include the following:

Coordinate the Children’s Safety Now Alliance (CSN-A), a national partnership of child safety experts across federal and state agencies, youth-serving organizations, hospitals, and universities
Produced the Health Equity: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Assessment Guide for Multidisciplinary Teams and Ensuring Child Safety During Times of Disruption guidance in collaboration with CSN-A
Produced a Firearm Safety Resource Guide and firearm safety infographics
Produced the Health Equity Planner to Implement and Spread Child Safety Strategies in Communities and data maps with statistical comparisons of national and state rates for selected child safety topics
Manage and share findings from the Child Safety Learning Collaborative (CSLC), a network of practitioners from 26 state teams across 18 states and jurisdictions dedicated to the widespread, sustainable implementation of evidence-based strategies to reduce childhood injuries
Provide training and technical assistance to state and territorial injury prevention programs
Disseminate best practices, research findings, and evidence-based interventions through webinars, face-to-face trainings, and social media channels

Impact

CSN’s CSLC assisted 381 schools and organizations in implementing programs in bullying prevention, motor vehicle traffic safety, suicide and self-harm prevention, and sudden unexpected infant death prevention.
More than 3,000 public health professionals have participated in CSN webinars.
CSN’s weekly newsletter has over 16,000 subscribers.