Child Protection Program | Our Services | Boston Children's Hospital

Child Protection Team (CPT) Consult Service

The Child Protection Team (CPT) provides 24/7 on-call coverage, expert consultation services, case-specific support, and professional training to hospital staff on issues of child maltreatment. With their multidisciplinary model, CPT consists of members from the Division of General Pediatrics, Social Work, and Nursing. The team utilizes the input of multiple specialists from a variety of clinical subspecialties, as well as input from the Office of General Counsel.

Child Protection Clinical Services

Child Protection Clinical Services (CPCS) includes medical and psychosocial services provided by physicians, social workers, and nurse practitioners in the outpatient setting. CPCS has two distinct outpatient clinics.

Foster Care Clinic	Crisis Response Clinic
Children newly placed in DCF custody Two visit model at seven-day and 30-day post out of home placement Includes medical and psychosocial screening provided by physicians, nurse practitioners, and social workers in the outpatient setting	Two-week follow-up skeletal surveys In cases where there is a concern for possible abuse in the setting of an equivocal finding on physical exam, providers may contact the clinic regarding a second opinion visit The Children's Advocacy Centers (CAC) in Massachusetts offer forensic interviewing and evidence collection throughout the state. See information regarding CACs by county.

Please call the Child Protection Program at 617-355-7979 for additional questions and/or further assistance in scheduling.

AWAKE

Addressing Well-being through Advocacy, Knowledge, and Empowerment (AWAKE) at Boston Children’s Hospital provides free, confidential, empowerment-based supportive services for patients, their caregivers, and employees of Boston Children’s Hospital experiencing domestic violence.

Our expertise in domestic violence

Established in 1986, AWAKE is the first program within a pediatric hospital dedicated to serving the needs of survivors who have experienced domestic violence. We care for patients, caregivers, and employees of Boston Children’s Hospital and its satellite locations who are impacted in some way by domestic violence. Our goal is to empower survivors, provide connections, and advocate for them and their families to ensure safety.

We serve all survivors of domestic violence, regardless of age, economic status, religion, sexual orientation, and gender.

How we address domestic violence

AWAKE advocates for survivors of domestic violence by providing validation, supportive counseling, education about healthy relationships, and connection to resources within the hospital and the community.

We conduct risk assessments and ongoing safety planning to determine the needs of survivors experiencing violence or who have a trauma history in a coordinated and supportive way.

AWAKE services are available 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and can be reached by calling 617-355-6000 and asking to have AWAKE paged. If there is a concern after 5 p.m. weekdays or on weekends or holidays, please contact the page operator and ask for Child Protection Program consultant on call to be paged.