In the 8th year of collaboration, Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theater Program and La Casa de las Madres continue to bring PEACE Signs critical messaging and support to upper elementary youth throughout San Francisco.
Children are often unseen victims of domestic violence. Directly and indirectly, exposure to abuse contributes to immediate behavioral, social, and emotional problems as well as 
long-term obstacles like depression, trauma symptoms, suicidiality, and an increased tolerance for use of violence in adult relationships. According to Child Information Gateway, 80-90% of children of abused parents can provide vivid details of domestic violence incidents they were not present for, either through hearing the event or experiencing its aftermath. In San Francisco, up to 16,500 children are exposed to domestic violence each year (Safe Start 2006).
PEACE Signs is a powerful intervention. At each school it begins with a dramatic performance for 3rd through 5th grade students in which the characters are dealing with difficult issues, such as domestic violence, bullying, divorce, and gang violence. It teaches children the “Stoplight Solution” to resolving conflict. Invoking the visual of a stoplight, children learn to STOP (red), THINK of a solution (yellow), and ACT on this positive choice (green). 
The play is followed up by workshops in each classroom and culminates in an eight week support group – Club Casa – for select students identified by parents, teachers, or counselors as having experienced one of these issues or needing extra support. Club Casa helps kids identify feelings, manage anger, learn how to deal with bullying, create a safety plan to deal with violence at home or in the neighborhood, and develop positive self-esteem. This interactive group uses discussion, activities, games, art, and other mediums for exploring these issues.
One of the most powerful sessions is always centered around the topic of safety planning. 
After thinking through some scenarios together, the children come up with their own ideas about how they can safely respond if there is violence going on around them. The students draw pictures showing what one piece of that safety plan may look like. T
Included is a selection of pictures collected over the past year and a half in PEACE signs groups from three different San Francisco schools.
