KARA reports on the problems and solutions facing abused and neglected children.
This in depth reporting from Sarah Westall & Game Changers media paints an accurate and troublesome picture of the conditions facing Minnesota’s at risk children today.
The Minnesota State Guardian ad Litem (GAL) Board is advocating the elimination of the volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program and replacing it with paid staff. A terrible mistake according to child advocates from around the country.
Child abuse and neglect are unfortunately common in the United States. The increase use of drugs, the pandemic lockdowns, and increased poverty all play into the rise of child abuse in recent years. As of 2020 in the United States, at least 1 in 7 children have experienced child abuse or neglect and experts believe it is much higher because many cases are unreported. Even worse, in 2020 five children a day died of abuse or neglect in the United States. But that number is low; as reported at length on this website, if you count unreported child trafficking murders, the number of children who die daily due to abuse is much much higher.
Minnesota, as with most states, have been a hotbed for child trafficking and other forms of abuse. The unknown truth, because mass media does not report it, is that children who are victims of trafficking are often part of the child welfare system. According to a report published by the Center for Child Welfare the involvement of the child welfare system in human trafficking is sadly much more common than people realize. For example the report based on 2014 numbers state:
- 1 of 6 runaways in 2014 were likely sex trafficking victims. 68% of these likely victims were in the care of social services or foster care when they ran. (source: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
- 978 allegations of human trafficking in Florida’s child welfare system were made in 2014, involving 775 victims. This figure was up from 480 allegations in 2011. (Florida Department of Children and Families)
- 130 victims of sex trafficking were identified in Connecticut in 2014. 98% of these victims were involved with the child welfare system in some manner. (Connecticut Department of Children and Families)
- 74% of Child Advocacy Centers in the Midwest region have served Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) victims. However, only 13% had policies and procedures in place specific to CSEC needs and 91% of respondents reported having no funding for CSEC victims. (Midwest Regional Child Advocacy Center)
According to Detective Rothstein, who was the lead New York based investigator assigned by the Federal Government to combat sex trafficking in the United States during the 1980’s, Minnesota was the home base for one of the largest child sex trafficking rings in the country in the early 1980’s thru the early 1990’s. But fortunately since that time, various pressures forced this underground organization to move out of Minnesota to its new home base in Utah (unknown to many Utah residents).
It could be coincidence, but in 1986 one of the countries first community based volunteer GAL programs was started in Minnesota. The program brought needed one on one community support to children in the child welfare program. The program assigns children a non paid community based volunteer who is specifically focused on advocating for that child and his/her rights. They work for no one else in the system but the child. In most cases, the GAL volunteer is the only person in that child’s life who is not paid to help them.
It is a well known fact that victims of child trafficking are more likely to be be children who are not easily tracked and those who do not have a caring advocate. This is why child immigrants and children on Indian reservations are the most highly trafficked children; they are not easily tracked. But when it comes to a caring advocate, this is where the GAL volunteers make all the difference and what human traffickers stay clear of.
But keeping human trafficking away from children isn’t the only benefit that GAL volunteers provide. According to the National CASA organization, the “GAL volunteer can make all the difference in the life of a child”. Children with GAL volunteers are:
- 50% less likely to reenter the child welfare system
- Have 1/3 fewer placements and are more likely to achieve permanency
- 14% less likely to spend time in long-term foster care, defined as more than three years in care
- CASA provides a “highly qualified professional network of volunteers”, states Gerard Bodell, President MN CASA. “Volunteers are in it for personal passionate reasons and can make meaningful connections with the child. Volunteers humanize the process”. The humanizing process can be the difference between a child with no one in their life and one who now has an adult who cares about them. This is why most states have moved to the volunteer model. It provides a clear benefit to society.But in MN this could all go away. Not because paid workers don’t care, but they likely just don’t have time.According to the national average, GAL volunteers take on only 1-2 cases giving them time to devote to each child. As such, most volunteers devote hours of time to their assigned children and often visit their schools, talk to teachers, and do the necessary work to ensure the child is progressing in school and safe in their home. It also provides a stable caring adult in the child’s life.In contrast, paid GAL workers are assigned 30+ cases serving 115 kids on average per employee. While advocates are very adamant that every resource an abused child receives is positive, they also point out that it is impossible for anyone with this type of work load to provide the individual attention that each child craves and needs.
- READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE
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