Silence isn't a choice.
It's a design failure.

Most children who are abused won't tell anyone for years — often decades. And some never disclose at all.

yuli is changing that.

Our mission
Only 1 in 3 Children who are abused disclose during childhood London et al., 2005
23.9 yrs Average time survivors wait before first disclosure Australian Royal Commission
45% Of survivors have never told anyone at all Australian Child Maltreatment Study, 2025

The problem

yuli exists so that no child has to carry
the secret of abuse alone.

Abuse thrives in silence. For most children who experience it, there is no safe, accessible way to reach out — no tool built for them, in language they understand, that doesn't require them to find the words alone.

Every tool that exists today is adult-initiated, adult-administered, or routes directly to law enforcement — creating barriers rather than pathways.

"No child-initiated, child-facing disclosure tool currently exists anywhere. The child has no agency. No language. No safe door to open on their own terms. That is the gap yuli was built to close."

yuli is building that tool. Because earlier disclosure changes everything.

Our approach

yuli meets children exactly where they are.

yuli is being built on three uncompromising commitments — to the child first, always, in every design decision we make.

🗣️

Child-initiated

Most children don't disclose because they can't — not because they won't. They don't have the words. They don't know what to name it. Saying it out loud feels impossible. yuli meets them exactly there — with age-appropriate language and gentle guidance that makes the first step possible.

🌿

Age-adaptive

A five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old don't speak the same language — and they shouldn't have to. yuli meets every child in their own vocabulary, their own world, their own frame.

🔒

Trusted circle

Children choose their own circle of trusted adults — a teacher, a counselor, a relative. Not law enforcement. Not institutions. The people they already know are safe.

The founder

Built by someone who understands
what silence costs.

yuli was founded in Boston by Cher Macelhaney — who spent over a decade in corporate America before leaving to build something that matters.

yuli is being built in close collaboration with trauma clinicians, child abuse researchers, and survivor advocates. It is not a tech product with a social mission tacked on. It is a mission that happens to need technology to exist.

We are in early-stage validation — building thoughtfully, listening carefully, and moving with intention.

Cher Macelhaney

Founder · yuli
Boston, MA · Est. June 2026

Child Safety Social Enterprise Trauma-Informed Early Stage

Stay close

Follow the journey.

We're building carefully, not quickly. Follow along on Instagram or LinkedIn as yuli takes shape.