Overview

Massachusetts Citizens for Children (MassKids) is the oldest state-based child advocacy organization in the country. Our mission is to improve the lives of the state's most vulnerable children through advocacy by concerned citizens. It was founded in 1959 by pediatrician Martha May Eliot, MD, who served as Chief of the U.S. Children’s Bureau and held influential positions in both the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). With active support from Governor Foster Furculo, they established MCC as a permanent, independent citizens’ voice for Massachusetts’ most vulnerable children. Throughout its 59-year history, our organization’s work has been grounded in the belief that all Massachusetts children have the inherent right - To be safe from abuse, neglect, and violence; To be economically secure and free from poverty; To receive quality medical and preventive care; To learn in quality child care and school settings; and To live in caring families and healthy communities. Since 1986 MassKids has served as the Massachusetts Chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America. MassKids currently works to prevent child abuse through the work of the Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Center, the Enough Abuse Campaign and the Pledge to Prevent child sexual abuse. MassKids leads the Enough Abuse Campaign - a multi-state initiative working to educate and mobilize parents, professionals and communities to prevent child sexual abuse, and is launching the Pledge to Prevent in 2019. www.pledgetoprevent.org www.enoughabuse.org