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I will say that what your kid (and you for that matter) gets out of it will almost entirely depend on the instructor and classmates. Visit several schools; take advantage of any free classes. How long have students been attending? How long has the school been teaching? Etc.

Also, a lot will depend on how fit or active your kid is, or how he/she will react to physical closeness, pain or perceived threat of pain, inflicting pain on others, etc.

That being said, from the little I know of Krav Maga, it is currently popular, lots of schools, and does seem like an effective, straightforward personal defense -- if your kid is pretty fit and is not bothered by the thought of potentially seriously hurting other people. Tang Soo Do is another similar fighting style.

Aikido, mentioned several times, is a good alternative -- it is an excellent demonstration of balance and leverage, and of using an opponent's strength against them. Although it is a little formal and "mannered" for me personally.

My own best personal recommendation would be to check out Hapkido, which I started studying in 2010. Hapkido is closely related to aikido, which both have their roots in aiki jiu jitsu. If your kid might respond better to "win without fighting" than to "kick 'em in the balls" then Hapkido may be of more utility than krav maga or other "hard" martial arts. Although hapkido can be pretty hard too! But it focuses a lot more on non-resistance and allowing your opponent to do their own selves in. While strikes play a role in hapkido, and kicks more so, the main focus at least on my school is in a very wide range of "compliance" techniques, joint locks and holds, throws, pins, as well as escaping from the same. Blocks, evasions, disarming techniques, pressure points, and also situational awareness, how not to "look like a victim" and what to do if the bad guy gets the drop on you. My class is older and we have a lot of military and law enforcement (and former), so that might skew the instruction, but on the whole you can perhaps see it as a little less potentially violent than krav maga, and a little more practical and immediately useful than aikido.

If your kid enjoys it, though, any martial art will be helpful and valuable. If nothing else, than in terms of fitness and self-confidence. Our class shares space with a tae kwon do class for younger people. TKD sometimes gets a bad rap, but there were some serious students in that class. Including a couple girls, maybe 14-15, 5' max and 90 pounds soaking wet. And any guy who oversteps his bounds with those young ladies would very likely regret it, I can assure you.

Again, I encourage you as the parent to visit the schools, talk to the instructors, get a feel for the instruction, and perhaps even take a class or two yourself to see how it goes.

Good luck!