Why We Are Failing To Save At Risk Children

There is little transparency in Child Protective Services. If there were, more people (and legislators) would know and we might have the laws, programs, and support these children need. Today, access to information that should be public often requires a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA). This is a tough and unpleasant talk to have and it is often avoided or spoken in euphemistic terms like “maltreatment” when it is really repeated rape or beating of a child – sometimes over years.

Underreporting, nonreporting, and misrepresenting/misreporting are common in CPS (Child Protective Services). To be fair to the dedicated workers in this space, conflicting laws, overwhelming workloads, and a toxic political atmosphere can make honesty a threat to your employment (and your organization). For example, on multiple occasions in Minnesota, CPS employees have been told they would be fired immediately if they were to say “anything” to enquiring news outlets. In California, a Grand Jury has demanded more CPS transparency.

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America’s CHILDHOOD TRAUMA and ACES Impact

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota and Lives Cut Short are playing a critical role in investigating, reporting, and analyzing patterns of child deaths and egregious harm.

What follows in this post is a tip of the iceberg of child death, torture, and near death that is kept from public awareness…

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Few states treat child abuse as the crime that it is. If I committed any of the acts referenced in this post, a long sentence and public outrage would see me in prison for a very long time.

America is the only nation in the world to not ratify the United Nation’s Rights of the Child Treaty of the 1980’s. Like women of 1920, children are chattel with no voice in the home, courts, the media, or the State House. Young children can’t escape. Children that do escape have nowhere to go and rarely find safety. The politics of our day make life for at-risk children and families much harder.

• Safe Passage For Children of Minnesota reviewed child deaths from maltreatment (2014–2022) and found widespread system failures—such as returning children to parents with untreated mental illness or known histories of violence—and showed that many deaths involved families known to authorities who were not adequately protected. (Safe Passage MN Fatality Report PDF)​
• In 2023, Safe Passage and Minnesota child advocacy groups reported at least 32 child maltreatment deaths in the state, with their analysis showing that many could have been prevented with better policy, transparency, and court oversight. (Invisible Children MN Analysis)​
• Their reports use court records (CHIPS, TPR), media investigations, and medical examiner findings to track not just official fatalities but children who died after reunification, in kinship placements, or following repeated CPS involvement (Child Welfare Monitor coverage).​
• Safe Passage notes that detailed criminal charge/outcome data often remains unavailable, and public summaries confirm that few child deaths lead to prosecution, especially if the death was determined to be “accidental” or insufficient evidence exists (Safe Passage 2022–23 report PDF).​

Lives Cut Short Project (National)

• Lives Cut Short compiles public, media, and medical examiner data to count child maltreatment deaths and near-fatalities—often outpacing official NCANDS numbers in at least 10–12 states per year. (Lives Cut Short national analysis).​
• Their latest review documents how state definitions, underreporting, and political or policy reasons can hide or reclassify egregious neglect or deaths as “accidents,” lowering prosecution rates and public awareness (Governing: How States Hide Fatality Data).​
• Lives Cut Short provides summaries and case-level reviews from medical examiner records and executive child fatality reviews, showing how often responsible parties had previous CPS/law enforcement contact (Lives Cut Short Child Fatality Review Summaries).​

Additional NGO & Independent Findings

• American SPCC, Child Welfare Monitor, and The 19th publish independent data and investigations highlighting that 50–60% of child maltreatment deaths are not recorded as such on death certificates, and many egregious harm cases never make it to court or prosecution (American SPCC Statistics).​
• Child abuse media investigations and advocacy groups further reveal that statutory loopholes, lack of transparency, or inconsistent standards mean that many severe harm cases are closed without criminal charges, or result in lesser penalties (Governing Magazine).​

Summary Table (With NGO and Government Data)

Conclusion:

• Repeated non-governmental investigations reveal that many if not most official state counts of deaths and egregious child harm are underestimates, data on prosecution and conviction is often missing, and transparency gaps compound the challenge.
• Independent reviews by organizations such as Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota, Lives Cut Short, and national advocacy/academic groups repeatedly demonstrate that a significant proportion of known deaths or harmful incidents do not result in criminal charges due to evidence, classification, or system failures.
• For MN and select states, these NGOs often provide more detailed case-level analysis and critical findings than government records alone.​

All 50 states prosecute child abuse fatalities and egregious harm as crimes, but actual numbers of charges and convictions are only reported in select federal and state data, research studies, and advocacy reviews.

• In 2023, Texas had at least 187 reported child abuse fatalities, far more than any other state, with other states ranging from single digits to over 100 annually (Statista state-by-state child deaths).​
• Child maltreatment deaths nationwide typically total 1,800–1,900 per year (Child Maltreatment 2023 federal report).​ KARA would argue that ten times that number would likely be how many children suffer near death and egregious violence and neglect. Consider that the Safe Passage report found that 50% of children killed by their parents while in Child Protection are under three years old.
• Colorado reported 48 egregious harm incidents in addition to fatalities and near-fatalities (Lives Cut Short state-by-state egregious reports).​
• Judicial outcomes in Utah and similar states show about 88% conviction rate for child abuse homicide cases that were prosecuted (JAMA Pediatrics prosecution outcome study).​
• National meta-analyses confirm that while not every death or egregious harm case is prosecuted, about 88–94% of prosecuted cases result in a conviction (OJJDP meta-analysis on child abuse prosecution).​
• Near-fatalities and egregious cases: Some states, like Colorado and Wisconsin, publish these separately; most states do not (Lives Cut Short analysis hub).​

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This article submitted by former CASA volunteer Mike Tikkanen