Part 2 CPS Models That Work & Models That Don’t

Models That Work PART 2

WHEN YOU Share KARA’s reporting with FRIENDS, INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK and most of all, your State Representative (find them here) change will come. When enough of us become informed and speak up for abused and neglected children, we will improve their lives and our communities!  Follow KARA podcast series here.

About 30 years ago, KARA Co-Founder David Strand published his PHD Thesis Nation Out of Step (it is available to readers upon request – info@invisiblechildren.org with Nation Out of Step request in the subject line) shining a light on the disparity of child outcomes in the U.S. vs those of other advanced nations. David’s research and the research for this series covers a span of about fifty years. This gives a long-term look at policies that work around the world that we could be doing here to improve the lives of at-risk children.

This series comes out of the growing disrespect for our institutions and the people doing the work. We hope you will share some of this information with your State Representative and other change makers. Child Protection work is hard, and the rewards are few with too much disappointment for all concerned.

Metrics:

Improving What Is Measured

Festering What Is Not

and

Why This Is Ruining So Many American Children

• The U.S. system relies primarily on counts of investigations, confirmed maltreatment, foster care placement rates, and basic duration measures. There is very little standardized measurement of child well-being, stability, or parent feedback, and fewer independent audits of outcomes (U.S. metric shortcomings, demography comparison, America’s global ranking). In a series of 14 interviews with birth families, the media, and foster/adoptive homes, involved in CPS KARA recorded there were no satisfied customers. Brandon Stahl, the reporter we interviewed on camera painted a hard picture(2min video) about the many hurdles the system put up to slow his Star Tribune investigation of the death of four-year-old Eric Dean. More recently, in the Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota investigation into the deaths of children at the hands of their parents while in CPS, four counties refused to cooperate, and no counties offered any information that was not already public.

• To be fair, America has many confusing and conflicting County, State, Federal and other agencies conflicting laws and rules drawn from those confusing and conflicting laws. In most if not all CPS agencies, employees are advised that if they say anything at all to reporters about any of the work they have done (even if it is safely reportable) they will be fired. Minnesota has repeatedly used very blunt language about this in the past few years.

• The overall effect of sporadic, inconsistent, and absent reporting of critical child outcome metrics in CPS is that there are almost no meaningful long-term studies available. Meaningful studies would show how families come in and out of the system over decades, how children matriculate into the justice system and become part of the 80% recidivism at nine years in our prison system and most of all how epigenetics and generational childhood trauma is defining tens of millions of American children, youth and the adults they become.

Maria Cohen’s recent article in American Experiment addresses the persistent confusion and contradictions among laws regulating transparency and public access to information in U.S. child protection systems. Cohen describes how a patchwork of federal and state statutes leads to inconsistent practices and conflicting interpretations regarding which records can be accessed, under what circumstances, and by whom. She highlights cases where agencies invoke privacy laws to withhold critical case outcomes—despite legitimate community or policy interest—while at other times releasing detailed information that may conflict with a child’s privacy rights. The author points to conflicting language in statutes, such as vague definitions of what constitutes a “confidential” vs. “public” child welfare record, noting that these ambiguities are routinely exploited by agencies to avoid scrutiny or accountability (Legal discussion PDF).

Cohen argues that the lack of clear guidance creates a climate of administrative discretion, encouraging agencies to shield decisions from public review, especially when failures or controversial removals are at stake. The article notes that even within a single state, different counties may interpret transparency statutes differently, compounding confusion and fostering mistrust in the system. Cohen references research showing that without standardized reporting definitions and mandatory independent review, stakeholders—including parents, journalists, and oversight bodies—struggle to obtain accurate, timely information necessary for evaluating CPS performance (Standardization review PDF).

• While states do report on some permanency outcomes, metrics are mostly administrative: case closure rates, timeliness, and foster care exit types, rather than holistic well-being or quality assessments (Children’s Defense Fund overview).

Comparative Sources:

• Detailed cross-national studies and databases support these observations (global rates study, demography resource, ROCKWOOL-Duke database).
• OECD and WHO recommend an “aspirational framework” that includes more comprehensive measurement of child well-being, service quality, and long-term outcomes than is currently required in the U.S. (OECD report).

In summary, advanced nations employ more diverse, outcome-focused, and family-informed metrics than the U.S., which still relies heavily on basic administrative process counts. This limits America’s ability to fully measure and improve the quality and impact of its child protection system (global rates study, demography resource, OECD report, Norwegian parental satisfaction, cross-country trust study).

SEE HOW OTHER NATIONS EVALUATE THEIR CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEMS IN THE READ MORE BELOW:

 

Dear Reader, KARA has been funding the Financial Literacy Project, INVISIBLE CHILDREN Campus Programs, public presentations, books, and social media for many years. We have had a really impactful 25 years thanks to our followers. But here’s the reality-as we are an advocacy group not providing service we live on donations alone. We want to keep the momentum going but we need the funds to do so…

So, we are asking for your help as a way to support all our efforts going forward. Please consider a monthly donation of 5 or 25$ to sustain KARA’s ongoing efforts.

An additional choice, would be to sponsor a our new Spotify Social media platform for $500 and receive recognition for you or your organization. Thank you to those who have sponsored a KARA projects in the past!

For stock and legacy donations contact mike@invisiblechildren.org with donations in the Subject line.

Advanced nations use a combination of internal reviews, independent evaluations, and collaborations with NGOs, academic institutions, and international organizations to assess their child protection systems. For instance, systems in Europe and the Baltics regularly undergo mapping and analysis—often documented in reports such as “Building Trust and Resilience: Child Protection Systems in the Baltic States” (source). This approach ensures that both government data and external perspectives influence reforms.

Independent outside sources play a significant role in evaluation; research and audits by entities like Maestral International (source) and regular EU-wide mapping by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (source) set standards, identify gaps, and promote transparency in child welfare policy. These efforts are often performed in partnership with NGOs, academics, or UN agencies for objectivity and rigorous review.

Countries such as Iceland and Lithuania incorporate assessments from local authorities and universities, as referenced in international best practice studies (source). National care system evaluations in Kenya, Guatemala, and Uganda also rely on tools and training spearheaded by external organizations (source).

Interdisciplinary input is encouraged; professionals from health, judicial, and education sectors, alongside public consultation, inform and legitimize evaluation processes, as reflected in EU FRA’s 2023 update (source). In summary, advanced nations increasingly use outside and independent sources to evaluate child protection systems, ensuring reforms are data-driven, transparent, and trusted.

 

• The U.S. system relies primarily on counts of investigations, confirmed maltreatment, foster care placement rates, and basic duration measures. There is very little standardized measurement of child well-being, stability, or parent feedback, and fewer independent audits of outcomes (U.S. metric shortcomings, demography comparison, America’s global ranking). In a series of 14 interviews with birth families, the media, and foster/adoptive homes, involved in CPS KARA recorded there were no satisfied customers. Brandon Stahl, the reporter we interviewed on camera painted a hard picture(2min video) about the many hurdles the system put up to slow his Star Tribune investigation of the death of four-year-old Eric Dean. More recently, in the Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota investigation into the deaths of children at the hands of their parents while in CPS, four counties refused to cooperate, and no counties offered any information that was not already public.

• America has many confusing and conflicting County, State, Federal and other agencies conflicting laws and rules drawn from those confusing and conflicting laws. In most if not all CPS agencies, employees are advised that if they say anything at all to reporters about any of the work they have done (even if it is safely reportable) they will be fired. Minnesota has repeatedly used very blunt language about this in the past few years.

• The overall effect of sporadic, inconsistent, and absent reporting of critical child outcome metrics in CPS is that there are almost no meaningful long-term studies available. Meaningful studies would show how families come in and out of the system over decades, how children matriculate into the justice system and become part of the 80% recidivism at nine years in our prison system and most of all how epigenetics and generational childhood trauma is defining tens of millions of American children, youth and the adults they become.

 

 

 

#outcomes

#metrics

#international

#solutions

#CASA

#guardianadlitem

#leadership

• #childrights
  #childrensrights
  #humanrights
  #uncrc (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child)
  #education
  #fostercare
  #childsafety
  #endchildabuse
  #supportchildren
  #stopchildlabour
  #empowerchildren
  #rights4children
  #protectchildren
  #safetechforkids
  #nonprofit
  #donate
  #justice
  #hope
  #mentalhealth
  #inclusion
  #traumainformed

#kara

#childadvocacy

#kidsatriskaction

#invisiblechildren

#volunteer

#socialjustice

#CWLA

#childwelfareleague

#mariecohen

#americanexperiment

#brandonstahl

#ericdean

#safepassageforchildren