Kids at Risk Action (KARA) is a non-profit action tank supporting people, policies, and programs
that improve the lives of at-risk children. We are passionate and unapologetic advocates for the welfare of abused
and neglected kids in Minnesota, the United States, and the world.
This article contributed by former CASA guardian ad litem and KARA founder Mike Tikkanen
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It hurts me to think that people engaged in caring for other people’s pets are perceived to be more valuable than foster families caring for State Ward children.
Doggy day care is at least as costly (on average $50/day) than child care (on average $45/day) should make us think a little harder about how we value children in America. Kinship care subsidies in some states are below $10/day.
What’s it like to be a grandparent caring for a very troubled teenage grandchild living on social security?
For decades 80% of foster children aging out of State care lead dysfunctional lives, 20% become instantly homeless and about 50% of them dropout of high school. Very few graduate from college.
It’s important to state that foster children have done nothing wrong.
It is the things that have been done to them that are wrong and it is why they have become wards of the state.
The painful and frightening path to becoming a foster child sticks with a person forever.
It should be obvious that this child needs and deserves a higher level of care. In years of research and writing on this topic KARA has not found examples of states with an abundance of qualified foster families. The most common truth is that all states suffer from a shortage of foster homes and some go to great lengths to simply keep these poor tykes safe from more physical and mental violence. Too often we do not succeed even in this.
Americans talk big about how valuing children but by many measures, this is simply not true for about half of our nation’s youngest citizens.
Quality of life indices measured over decades show severe declines in child well-being; poverty, school performance, food stability, violence and health data have fallen behind even third world nations.
Supporting foster children and the families that care for them should be a priority in every community.
Learn more;
A note on child daycare
Michele Norris Star Tribune article on MN child care is just the tip of this iceberg.
in many states, single Parents pay over 50% of their income for infant center care and married parents with 2 children pay over 100% of their household income for center based care (or they would if they could make it work). Minnesotans pay over 15 thousand dollars for infant care (when public college tuition is 11 thousand dollars.
Daycare in many states is unregulated, creating plenty of nightmare horror stories about impaired and troubled providers causing harm to infants and toddlers. Drunk uncle/boyfriend daycare is an awful thing the media…
regularly reports on; rapes, beatings and abandonment of 2 and 3 year olds by troubled or meth impaired people traumatizing, neglecting and killing very young children in their care.
#kinshipcare,#fostercarerates#childabuse#kara#kidsatrisk