Safe Passage For Children of Minnesota has helped bring the issue of transparency of child abuse death and near death into the light and Legislature in our State.
In about three weeks, Minnesota will create a statewide child fatality and near fatality review panel to track cases of children dying and suffering egregious harm while involved with Child Protective Services (CPS).
This along with the National Lives Cut Short database are a significant first step giving citizens and lawmakers some understanding of the numbers and conditions of the otherwise invisible children suffering death and near death in America.
Safe Passage first report related the tortured deaths of 88 of the 200 children dying at the hands of their caregivers while known to Child Protection Services (CPS). Most of those children were babies and toddlers. Safe Passage next report will cover 46 children who died over an 18 month period from 2023-2024.
This former CASA Guardian ad Litem has worked with 50 children in CPS who did not die. Many of them were raped, beaten, and burned suffering years of trauma that they could not escape. None of my caseload kids made it into these reports or awareness of anyone outside the courtroom. Self-harm and suicide attempts were common among them. Some tried multiple times. Hopefully, this transparency will lead to better policies for the youngest and most vulnerable citizens among us.
Changing the narrative and improving life for abused and neglected children will take all of us. Share this article widely, especially your State Representative – find them here.
Kids At Risk Action/KARA/INVISIBLECHILDREN.ORG
