The Harvard François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights offers Harvard graduate students the opportunity to obtain a certificate in child protection. This interdisciplinary qualification is open to students from any Harvard graduate school. The 2022-2023 CPC Cohort is full. Please check this website in late summer 2023 for applications for next year’s cohort.
Child protection work aims to prevent, respond to, and resolve abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence experienced by children in domestic and international settings. It requires an interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral approach that encompasses work in health, education, social service, public policy, and law enforcement to advance the protection of children and involves collaborating with a wide range of partners across government and within civil society, communities, and families.
The certificate program incorporates ongoing child protection research and practice grounded in field-based realities and takes into account the expertise of UNICEF, a university-wide faculty steering committee, and external child protection experts.
With this comprehensive graduate-level training, certificate recipients will be better equipped to:
- Identify relevant social, economic, legal, and cultural issues affecting the protection of children,
- Build a stronger child protection evidence base by engaging in more rigorous research, monitoring, evaluation, and use of data,
- Understand the multiple interactions at policy, community, family, and individual levels needed to create a protective environment for children,
- Gain the competencies to develop the cross-sectoral partnerships necessary to a holistic child protection system.
CPC 2022-2023
Take a look at the 2022-2023 brochure for the Child Protection Certificate Program for Harvard graduate students. [Update: The 2022-2023 CPC cohort is currently full.]
The CPC Curriculum
The curriculum is composed of courses selected from across Harvard’s graduate programs and covers five domains of child protection:
A. CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEMS
- Law and Policy
- Systems Capacity and Integration
- Data/Statistics
- Birth Registration
B. VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN
- Protection from Violence, Exploitation, Abuse, Neglect
- Protection in Emergencies
- Impact of Violence on Children
C. JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN
- Children in Conflict with the Law: Detention/Diversion
- Children in Contact with the Law: Family Court; Foster Care; Criminal Witness
D. SOCIAL CHANGE/ FAMILY STRENGTHENING
- Social Protection
- Social Inclusion/Non-Discrimination
- Cultural and Social Norms/Social Change
E. CHILD PROTECTION LEADERSHIP TOOLS
- Leadership
- Negotiation
- Advocacy
Child Protection Certificate Requirements
Participation in a one-semester, non-credit child protection seminar.
The mandatory seminar, consisting of panels of child protection experts brought in specifically to talk to and meet with certificate candidates, will be offered in the spring 2022 semester. Details as to the dates/times of the seminar will be provided to accepted candidates during the fall semester to allow ample time for planning. Seminars will enable candidates to consolidate their understanding of the child protection field in both the domestic and international arenas through exchange with the invited speakers and mentorship by senior child protection practitioners. Students will be encouraged to share their own child protection research and experience and engage with their peers.
Completion of 12 credits selected from CPC course offerings in at least three of the curriculum’s five domains.
The child protection foundational courses count as one of the domains required to qualify for the certificate.
CPC Application and Approval Process
Application: Program candidates are required to complete a short application, consisting of an essay and a proposed list of qualifying CPC courses. Application forms for the 2022-2023 cohort can be found here.[Update: The 2022-2023 CPC cohort is currently full.]
Applications will be reviewed by the FXB Strategy Officer/Child Protection Program Director, in consultation with the faculty steering committee. The program has an annual limit of 30 students.
Approval: Prior to graduation, candidates will submit an approval request, detailing their completion of the requirements and providing a statement assessing their program of study. The program director and committee will review these requests against the student’s transcripts. Approved candidates will be invited to attend the program’s annual spring awards ceremony, where they will receive their certificates, successfully marking completion of the program.
Child Protection Certificate Program Courses
(Please note that the direct links to each course work best with your Harvard log-in.)
Foundational Course: Covers Three or More Child Protection Domains
GHP 553: Human Rights Dilemmas in Child Protection (also offered as IGA 342M) | Jacqueline Bhabha | This course is not required, but if taken, candidates may apply the credits towards domain A, B or C (below) as needed.
A. Child Protection Systems
SBS222: Social Services for Children, Adolescent & Families | Peter Maramaldi
SBS201: Society and Health | Ichiro Kawachi
A-612: Organizing: People, Power, Change (also offered as MLD-377)| Marshall Ganz
GHP231: Sexual and Reproductive Health A Global Perspective | Ana Langer
IGA-385: Strategizing for Human Rights: Moving from Ideals to Practice | Douglas Johnson
SBS 246: Maternal and Child Health: Programs and Policies | Henning Tiemeier
SBS 281: Principles of Social and Behavioral Research | Laura Kubzansky
SBS 220: Society and its Effects on Child Health | Ronald Samuels
GHP 204: Foundations of Global Mental Health | Vikram Patel
GHP 209 Early Childhood Development in Global Contexts (also offered as EDU A-827) | Dana Charles McCoy, Aisha Yousafzai
SBS-299 Science-Driven Innovation in the Early Childhood Ecosystem | Shonkoff
SUP 211 Institutional & Community-based Strategies to support Children & Families (also offered as EDU H307) | Wilson
HPM 562 Narrative Leadership – Using Storytelling to Mobilize Collective Action in Public Health | Stojicic
SUP 425M Innovation and Justice: Developing New School and Community Strategies that Strengthen Children | Richard Weissbourd (also offered as EDU H310W)
SUP 472 Inequality in Education Policy (also offered as EDU A-142) | Carlana
B. Violence Against Children
GHP 515: International Humanitarian Response 1* | Sean Michael Kivlehan
GHP 518: International Humanitarian Response 2* | Sean Michael Kivlehan
ID240: Principles of Injury Control | David Hemenway
GHP553: Human Rights Dilemmas in Child Protection (also offered as IGA 342M) | Jacqueline Bhabha
EDU H310M: Establishing Loving Spaces for Learning: Preventing Bullying and Discrimination in U.S. Schools | Gretchen Brion-Meisels, Jonathan Whichard
A203: Educational Justice | Jacob Fay
HLS Child Advocacy: Child Welfare, Education & Juvenile Justice Clinical Seminar| Crisanne Hazen
EDU T416: Transformative Justice | Kaia Stern
HLS Emerging Issues in Refugee Protection: The Representation of Child Asylum Seekers | Nancy Kelly, John Willshire
HLS Gender Violence, Law and Social Justice | Diane Rosenfeld
EDU T406 Educating Incarcerated Youth: Practice, Research, Policy, and Advocacy | Lynette Tannis
EDU H304: Legal and Ethical Issues in Child Advocacy | Jacqueline Zeller
D. Social Change/Family Strengthening
SUP 470: Strategies and Policies for Education Excellence with Equity (also offered as EDU A108) | Ronald Ferguson
SBS 212: Developmental Disabilities I: Evaluation, Assessment and Systems* | David Helm
SBS 214: Developmental Disabilities II: Value, Policy and Change* | David Helm
HDS 3335 Learning in Context: Narratives of Displacement and Belonging in Israel and the West Bank* | Dianne Moore
EDU H311 Issues of Diversity in Cross-Cultural Counseling and Advocacy | Josephine Kim
EDU H210P: Queering Education | Gretchen Brion-Meisels
HLS The Art of Social Change | Elizabeth Bartholet, Crisanne Hazen
EDU-H382 The Challenges Kids Face: Developmental, Cultural & Contextual Perspectives on Risk & Resilience | Holly Lem
MLD 304: Science of Behavior Change | Rogers
EDU A314 Collaborative Action for Children: Redesigning Education for Equity | Reville
E. Child Protection Leadership Tools
LEADERSHIP
MLD 201: Exercising Leadership: The Politics of Change | Farayi Chipungu, Timothy O’Brien, Hugh O’Doherty
MLD 102: Getting Things Done: Management in a Development Context | Matt Andrews
MLD 103: PDIA in Action: Development Through Facilitated Emergence | Matt Andrews
EDU A302: Equity in Action in School Systems | Jennifer Cheatham
NEGOTIATION
EDU A501: Negotiation* | Deborah Goldstein, Todd Gillien
HPM 252: Negotiation | Linda Kaboolian
MLD-220M: Fundamentals of Negotiation | Brian Mandell
MLD-224: Behavioral Science of Negotiations | Julie Minson
MLD-223: Negotiating Across Differences | Kessely Hong
RESEARCH & ADVOCACY
SBS 245: Social and Behavioral Research Methods | Steve Gortmaker, Erica Kenney
EDU S501Y / 502Y: Researching in Community: Intergenerational Participatory Action Research for Educational Justice | Gretchen Brion-Meisels
HLS: Special Education Advocacy for Students Impacted by Trauma | Michael Gregory
*Cross registration by permission of professor only.
Note: In order to qualify for the CPC courses must be taken for-credit. | Regular Harvard course cross-registration and enrollment processes apply for all CPC courses.