You can help us push things in the right direction for our most vulnerable kids.

Every hour, 83 kids are restrained or secluded…86 kids are expelled…78 are corporally punished…and 4,273 are suspended…in American public schools. Every hour.
Lives in the Balance is at the forefront of efforts to dramatically reduce or eliminate the most harmful, counterproductive practices – such as suspension, restraint, seclusion, and corporal punishment – in our schools and treatment facilities. Not only do we heighten awareness of these practices, and their long-term implications for kids and society, we also train countless caregivers every year in the evidence-based model of care, Collaborative & Proactive Solutions, that has been shown to reduce or eliminate these practices.
Despite these efforts, too many people aren’t even aware that kids are still being treated this way. We need your help to get punitive, exclusionary, harmful, counterproductive, unnecessary practices into the national consciousness. In collaboration with our public affairs and consulting firm, SKDK, we have prepared poignant, impactful 15- and 30-second public awareness spots that will be aired on national TV in early 2023.
Please help us reach as many people as possible with these TV spots. Any contributions we receive on or before Giving Tuesday will go directly toward funding this ad campaign. Please donate below! We, the kids, and their caregivers are grateful beyond words for your support.
We are fortunate to count among our supporters the musical group, The Wailin’ Jennys: Ruth Moody, Heather Masse, and Nicky Mehta.

DONATE NOW
We are passionate about ensuring that kids with concerning behaviors receive compassion and effective help. Your donation will help in so many ways:
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Increase public awareness of the price we all pay for the use of punitive, exclusionary disciplinary practices.
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Provide free resources and training in the evidence-based, trauma-informed, Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS) model to educators, parents, and staff in treatment facilities.
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Support policy change at the state and federal levels for bills that can help end the punitive, exclusionary disciplinary that fuel the school-to-prison pipeline.
If you’d consider donating on a monthly basis — what we call our Sustaining Donors — we’ll make sure you’re appraised of our planned initiatives and get advance notice of our media materials and resources. Just indicate that you’d like to make monthly donations after you click on an amount.
And if you’d like to have a personal conversation about how you can support our efforts, we’d be delighted to talk to you. Please contact Kirsten Tallon, Director of Development, at kirsten@livesinthebalance.org.