Aging Out of Foster Care: Hannah’s Story – Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Short video about abuse, instability in care, and aging out at 18, stressing that teens are never too old to need a permanent family.
Childhood abuse leaves epigenetic “scars” that behave like quantum events in a child’s developing brain—shifting the whole trajectory of a life and even echoing across generations. This post links trauma, ACEs, and America’s worst health, violence, and inequality statistics.
Start a Kids At Risk Action campus conversation at your college or university about how ACEs, child abuse, and trauma impact children in your community. Short video.
COVID school closures and ICE raids have combined to drive U.S. reading, math, history, and civics scores to historic lows. This post outlines national NAEP data, the states with the deepest learning loss, and what these trends mean for children’s futures, especially in immigrant and high poverty communities.
Children in Texas are dying in homes, foster care, hotels, and treatment centers that CPS already knew were dangerous. This post highlights recent child deaths, official DFPS fatality data, and the federal lawsuit that says Texas still cannot keep kids safe
Why Florida Child Abuse Reporting Matters: Florida’s child abuse and neglect is just one part of KARA’s reporting mission and our nation’s child‑death problem. Florida reviews hundreds of abuse‑related child deaths each year. This is an investigative report recently completed in Minnesota that needs to happen in all states.
Over 48 years, CASA/GAL (Guardian ad Litem) programs have grown into a national network of more than 900 organizations with 80,000–100,000 guardian ad litem volunteers serving close to a quarter‑million abused and neglected children each year, according to National CASA/GAL program surveys and the association’s own history. In every state but North Dakota, these volunteers are often the only adults in the courtroom whose sole job is to stand for a child’s best interests—and they do it with intentionally tiny caseloads so each child gets more time, more attention, and more consistency than overloaded systems can usually provide
Sweden cut child abuse and child death rates dramatically. The US has not. See what the data actually shows—and how you can push for Sweden level protection here.
New Jersey’s recent child abuse tragedies—from Ne’Miya Duncan’s death days after a welfare visit to two brothers killed in Hillsborough—show deep failures in DCPP’s ability to protect children. This post highlights specific deaths, lawsuits, and state fatality data that reveal a child protection system still in crisis.
the harsh realities faced by LGBTQ+ youth in the foster care system — a population far too often isolated, unsupported, and at devastating risk of homelessness, suicide, and trauma. They share staggering statistics, heartbreaking stories, and expose how
Federal decisions on health care, food, child care, and social services are reshaping daily life for Minnesota’s children, especially those already at risk. When Washington freezes or cuts key programs like Medicaid, SNAP, Head Start, child care funds, SSBG, and TANF, the damage shows up in our counties, schools, clinics, and courtrooms. This post explains how national politics is putting Minnesota kids in harm’s way—and what we can do about it.
The United States speaks loudly about freedom yet stands alone in refusing to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in sentencing children to life without parole. This post explores how abused, neglected kids are denied rights, voice, and protection in our courts and public policy.
Many children with high ACE scores cope through “bad” habits—aggression, shutdown, substance use, or even self‑harm. These are survival strategies, not moral failures. This post explains the behaviors trauma creates and what kids actually need to feel safe and change.
This episode of KARA’s podcast tells the story of 5 month old Aaliya Goodwin, who died of positional asphyxia while in the care of her drug abusing parents. Drawing on the Safe Passage for Children investigation, we explore eight prior reports, repeated “Family Assessments,” and the systemic choices that left Aaliya unprotected.
These short, powerful child abuse awareness videos (most 20–30 seconds) highlight the painful realities of foster care, trauma, and youth suicide. Share them widely so more adults understand their responsibility to protect vulnerable children.
Recent California cases show children dying in foster homes, day care, and families long known to CPS, exposing egregious child protection failures. This post highlights specific deaths, audits, and multimillion dollar settlements that prove these are systemic problems, not isolated tragedies.
Thank you for reading and sharing the KARA blog. Your attention to child welfare issues helps bring visibility to children who are too often unseen and unheard. Every post you read, share, or discuss strengthens this movement for safer, healthier lives for abused and neglected kids. We’re grateful to have you in the KARA community.
the harsh realities facing foster youth aging out of the system and the failures of Extended Foster Care (EFC) programs
Listen to KARA’s child welfare podcast on child death and public non-disclosure. Learn how secrecy laws and closed child protection records hide patterns of failure when children die—and what real transparency and accountability should look like.
Listen to the powerful Invisible Children audio book and hear firsthand how our institutions fail abused and neglected children and learn what we can do to change the system. Hear the heartbreaking stories from CASA and guardian ad litem volunteers about children moved through multiple foster homes, children jailed instead of treated for trauma, and…
free and discounted resources for foster and adopted children and families
Isabella was taken into foster care when her birth home was raided by authorities for possession of drugs. She was found locked in a room by herself. She was silent – never spoke. Isabella had never been outside until she was placed into foster care at 7.
Hundreds of children in Minnesota’s child protection system are waiting for a guardian ad litem – the only independent voice they have in court. Every extra month in foster care deepens trauma and drives up costs. This article explains how many children have no GAL, what it costs in dollars and human suffering, and why restoring and expanding CASA/GAL programs is both a moral and fiscal imperative.
In 2014, Safe Passage for Minnesota Children reported that Pope County would face no legal penalty for its role in the slow tortured death of 4-year-old Eric Dean at the hands of his stepmother Amanda Peltier. Brandon Stahl presented Star Tribune readers with the sad fact that four Minnesota counties screen out 90% of child abuse calls. Read more for a review of child abuse death since Eric Dean.
…the economic impact of untreated child abuse. The mental health issues and behavior problems of high ACEs children drive much of the violence, desperation, and dysfunction afflicting so many American citizens
Child abuse crosses every community in America. This page gathers the strongest national statistics on maltreatment, CPS investigations, fatalities, and lifetime impacts on children’s brains and futures — along with links to leading data sources and resources for prevention, advocacy, and reform.
Blaming severely disturbed people for their crimes is nonsense and solves nothing (it’s counter productive-no steps are taken to solve the problem if that’s all we do).
It would be much more useful to get to know a family that has tried to find help for a very troubled child. As a volunteer County guardian ad-Litem, I came to know many very troubled youth and their parents and other caregivers.
Can a working relationship survive a fundamental disagreement about child safety? On our CASA board, a Black single mother and a white older man wrestle with whether CPS protects children or destroys families. This post explores that conflict and what it tells us about fixing a child protection system that is both racist and, at times, fatally timid.
School boards wield profound power over the safety, healing, and long-term success of children. What they choose to fund, prioritize, debate, and champion can dramatically shape school culture and community expectations around trauma, mental health, equity, and student outcomes. Yet too often, boards are