Healing Through Connection: Language Access Transforms Child Abuse Prevention

Every April, pinwheel gardens pop up across communities — spinning symbols of hope, safety, and a shared promise to protect children. Behind those pinwheels, organizations like CAPS (Child Abuse Prevention Services) are redefining what it means to protect children, moving beyond simple response to a holistic model of prevention, education, and deep-seated community support.

To ensure no child is left behind due to a language gap, CAPS has partnered with The INS Group to translate critical curriculum and community materials, ensuring safety and support are accessible to everyone, regardless of language.

An Integrated Approach to Safety

Unlike most nonprofits in its space, CAPS operates as a comprehensive “umbrella” organization—serving both prevention and response under one roof, rather than just focusing on a single piece of the child welfare puzzle.

“When it is your peer, there is a vulnerability of being willing to try some new things.” Sheri Robertson 

On the prevention side, CAPS runs three flagship programs: Healthy Families is a voluntary home-visiting program that supports prenatal moms and families and can continue supporting that family until the child’s fifth birthday. As CAPS Senior Director of Programs Sheri Robertson describes it: “We can walk all the way from ensuring mom is attending her prenatal appointments, to getting the little one to their wellness checks, all the way through to kindergarten readiness” Prevent 360 provides classroom and community education and training, helping everyone from preschoolers to adults understand boundaries, digital safety, and how to recognize and report abuse.

Finally, Nurturing Care Groups, a newer pilot program, builds small community circles where peer mentors facilitate a story-based curriculum focused on enhancing skillsets important to caregivers, such as self-regulation and genuine human connection. The peer-led model is intentional. “When it is your peer, there is a vulnerability of being willing to try some new things,” Robertson explains. “If you can do it, I feel like maybe I can do it.”

Breaking the Language Barrier with The INS Group

As the Nurturing Care Groups launched, CAPS noticed a surge in interest from the Latinx community. They didn’t want to wait months for a finalized English curriculum before offering a Spanish version; they needed to “build the plane while flying it.”

“We couldn’t be where we are in this pilot without having those materials accurately translated.” Sheri Robertson 

This is where The INS Group stepped in. By providing rapid, high-quality translation and typesetting, The INS Group enabled CAPS to deliver lessons to Spanish-speaking families so they could join from the very beginning of the pilot.

The results were transformative: the Spanish-speaking demographic grew so quickly that it now represents the largest group in the program.

“The curriculum translation has been a really critical piece for us,” Robertson notes. “We couldn’t be where we are in this pilot without having those materials accurately translated.”

Cultural Nuance and the Magic of Connection

Language access goes beyond word-for-word translation. Dialects vary significantly across Latin-speaking countries, and CAPS is mindful of these nuances. CAPS Maternal and Infant Initiatives Coordinator Mayra Garcia emphasizes the importance of cultural relevance: “We want to be conscious and mindful of the volunteer… wanting them to be from the home country or the culture where the majority of the individuals in their group are coming from.”

“The energy in the words used is completely different.” By matching mentors to communities and gathering real-time feedback to refine translations, CAPS ensures the curriculum feels genuinely familiar rather than just technically accurate. 

“No one gives us a handbook. Learning from one another is that magic.”  Mayra Garcia

Garcia captures it simply: “I like to call it the magic of Nurturing Care Groups. We all come with a little bit of knowledge, and no one gives us a handbook. Learning from one another is that magic.” This commitment to accessible, relatable materials lies at the heart of life-changing connections. Whether it’s a group brainstorming childcare solutions so a mother can attend a self-care appointment or sharing parenting “words of wisdom,” the translated materials provided by The INS Group serve as the foundation for these meaningful interactions.

 You Can Be a Safe Adult

 As CAPS marks Child Abuse Prevention Month this April, its message to the public is clear. “It does not take a grand action for you to make a difference in a child’s life,” says Robertson. The most important thing anyone can do is be a safe adult, someone who would never put a child in harm’s way and who a child knows they can turn to for help. Garcia echoes the broader mission: “It’s important for us to not just support the child, but also wrap our arms around the family as holistically as we can, because it doesn’t just end with the child. It’s the whole family and the whole community behind it.”

“It does not take a grand action for you to make a difference in a child’s life.”  Sheri Robertson 

Consistency in this language—across English and Spanish in this case—is the foundation of a community that protects its own. Whether through planting pinwheel gardens or volunteering as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, there is a place for everyone to contribute.

A Collective Responsibility

Preventing child abuse is a shared community responsibility. CAPS urges you to get involved: volunteer as an advocate or peer mentor, offer your professional skills, or make a financial contribution to expand these vital services. Every action, big or small, makes a difference.

By partnering with organizations like The INS Group and dedicated community members, CAPS is ensuring that every family has the tools, language, and support system necessary for children to grow up in a safe and nurturing environment.