KARA’s Children’s Freedom Crusade uses a Fourth of July freedom theme to demand real life, liberty, and happiness for abused and neglected children—and to build a national, child first movement that puts their safety and healing first.
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KARA is at a turning point. After 25 years of telling the hard truths about abused and neglected children, Kids At Risk Action is launching an AI‑driven National Child Abuse Data and Solutions Platform and a college‑intern network to make hidden trauma visible, connect data to real solutions, and support CASA and child‑advocacy programs nationwide. We’re asking donors and those with donor‑advised funds to partner with us so this platform can reach at‑risk children and families, frontline workers, and policymakers who need better information to protect kids.
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Child Protective Services exists to protect children, yet recent investigations show children being tortured, brutalized, and even murdered while known to CPS. Leadership that values efficiency over child safety is failing its mission. CASA’s “For the Child” model shows what child centered leadership should look like—and why urgent change is needed to stop preventable child deaths.
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Wisconsin’s public website for child death and egregious CPS incidents shows what honest tracking can look like. Minnesota’s Safe Passage child fatality report revealed children murdered by caregivers while known to CPS, but near deaths and egregious harm are still invisible. Until we count those cases, Minnesota will continue to tolerate extreme child abuse as a hidden human rights violation.
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The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. Every other nation has agreed that children have basic rights to safety, health, education, voice, and protection from exploitation and extreme punishment. The U.S. has never ratified it.
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The Minnesota Promise Report is a foster led blueprint for changing how states treat children in CPS and foster care. It combines listening sessions, data, and bold ideas from Fosters themselves to define what it would mean for a state to truly keep its promise to children. Sharing this report with colleagues and state representatives is one way to support Foster Advocates—and to spark similar efforts across the country.
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KARA reports on the issues of at risk children by curating a wide lens on child abuse and child protection. This post pulls together recent coverage from newspapers, universities, public health departments, UNICEF, the White House, and frontline advocates around National Child Abuse Prevention Month. You’ll see how childhood verbal abuse carries an estimated $300 billion global economic burden, how violence and neglect are rising in communities from Erie County to the Sahel, and how leaders are calling for better collaboration, stronger families, and more transparent systems to protect children. At the heart of the post is a simple call to action: choose one KARA podcast, article, or video that speaks to you and send it to your state representative or county commissioner, joining a growing movement to give voice to voiceless children.
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This article uses NCANDS data to identify the best and worst states for very young children in CPS, highlighting where infants and toddlers face the greatest risk of severe harm or death and how troubled, overwhelmed child protection systems are struggling with heavy caseloads and too few resources. It points lawmakers, advocates, and communities toward more transparent CPS reporting, stronger early childhood support, and data driven reforms that can actually protect kids and support families.
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Children’s mental health crisis post COVID is no longer invisible. California’s Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris has declared adverse childhood experiences a public health threat, while foster children across the nation are being overprescribed psychotropic drugs and suicide has become the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10 to 24. In Minnesota and beyond, emergency rooms are filling with suicidal children because there are too few pediatric mental health beds, rural facilities are closing, and communities fight against group homes instead of embracing trauma informed care. At the same time, teachers are leaving the classroom in high numbers as ACES driven violence and chaos make schools feel more like mental health wards than places of learning. This KARA post brings together data, frontline stories, and policy examples—from New Jersey’s “Road Forward” plan to the federal Mental Health Services for Students Act—to show how deeply our systems are failing abused and traumatized children, and why embracing early intervention, honest reporting, and real support for educators, families, and kids is critical now.
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Mandated Reporters genuinely fear for their safety and reputation and regularly fail to report (or, “see”) horrific child abuse to avoid potential damage to themselves.
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information from the CASAMN website about Guardian ad Litem volunteer opportunities, CASA CARES grants for Minnesota children, and updates on the program’s recent newsworthy events.
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For a Deeper Dive on this or other topics, hit the DEEP DIVE button on the lower right corner of this page. This conversation about how the safety and wellbeing of abused and neglected children is directly tied to measuring child outcomes within the system. The lack of institutional transparency being discussed in West Virginia…
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This is one of the 88 stories of children dying at the hands of their caregivers reported in the recent Safe Passage For Children investigation of child death in Minnesota. The report suggests why this tragedy is happening in our state and how we can make life safer for at risk children (in the read more at the end of the article). Lylah Koob, Goodhue County
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Child Abuse and Child Protection Stories & Statistics Arizona & Arkansas
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This is one of the 88 stories of children dying at the hands of their caregivers reported in the recent Safe Passage For Children investigation of child death in Minnesota. The report suggests why this tragedy is happening in our state and how we can make life safer for at risk children (in the read more at the end of the article). Please share this with your contacts and State Representative. Sophia O’Neill, Hennepin County
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Over 25 years ago the rest of the world (194 nations) decided that children have basic human rights and begin signing the International Rights of the Child Treaty. Under this document, children are to have the rights to education, safety and well being including not to be made soldiers, not to be enslaved).
America is the only nation that has not signed that agreement, largely because we still demand that southern states continue to militarize youth as young as eleven, through military schools.
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Foster Care; Every state is struggling to make life safe for traumatized state ward children. Here are their stories from October & November 2017;
KS: Nowhere Else to Go: Why Kids Are Sleeping in Child Welfare Offices (Commentary)
Governing – October 11, 2017
Every month, there are kids in Kansas forced to sleep on cots or couches in a foster care contractor’s office because they don’t have anywhere else to stay that night.
All Adults Are The Protectors of All Children
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Are children property of their parents even if those parentsre violent, addicted, severely mentally ill or dangerously criminal?
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Intake notes from County CPS
These are a tiny sample of County intake notes
social workers and guardians ad Litem are assigned each week;
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A recent MN Governor ended subsidized daycare in the state – the waiting list went from 34 families to 7000.
At the time, two percent of MN children were enrolled in high quality early childhood education programs- the national average was 25% and MN had the lowest rate among the 38 states that offer the programs.
Cutting the pie smaller for children is destructive, leads to failing students and schools, troubled communities, and the highest crime rates in the industrialized world.
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After the COVID19 lockdowns are lifted, and children and teachers return to the the classroom after months of fear and isolation, wouldn’t it be wonderful if students and teachers do not have to replace the daily fear of a virus with the daily fear of violence?
What can the community do to make that happen?
How many teachers have combat training or signed up to pack a weapon when they entered the profession? Turnover in education is already a huge problem. Packing a gun is what police and soldiers do. Shooting someone takes training – shooting the right person takes extensive training. For decades now, guns have been more often used for suicide than self-defense in America. This is true also for domestic violence.
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For a Deeper Dive on this or other topics, hit the DEEP DIVE button on the lower right corner of this page. Odds are, you know somebody sex trafficking has impacted. Minnesota has the third highest number of human trafficking cases in the U.S. annually. The Twin Cities have the 13th highest rate of child prostitution.…
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Where does your state rank in protecting children & what can you do to make improvements. These statistics tell the stories of our best and worst states around the nation
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Childhood trauma and Post‑Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in war veterans look different on the surface—but biologically, they are strikingly similar. We accept that a soldier torn apart by bullets or standing next to a friend killed by a bomb will carry invisible brain injuries. Yet we still struggle to see how growing up in a violent, chaotic, or deeply neglectful home can damage a child’s brain in many of the same ways.
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Statistics and effects of anti-LGBTQ+ policies on Youth in the United States today
Transgender Child Interview Anna, IN HER WORDS:
KARA Podcasts: Powerful Conversations About Interrupting and Ending Child Abuse
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Child maltreatment does not end when a CPS case is closed. The same children who enter child protection often show up later in juvenile justice and adult prison, driving recidivism rates of 70–80% and an estimated cost of more than $1.3 million per child. These numbers expose a foster care‑to‑prison pipeline and a massive misuse of public funds—money that could instead be invested in proven early childhood and trauma‑informed programs that break the cycle of abuse, crime, and incarceration.
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Child Protective Services (CPS) is one of the most criticized institutions in our communities, yet much of what people believe about CPS simply isn’t true. Research summarized by Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota and child welfare scholars debunks common myths about surveillance bias, racial disparities, poverty versus neglect, the effectiveness of evidence‑based treatments, and the impact of foster care on children’s lives. This post highlights what the data actually show and why understanding these misconceptions is crucial for building more child‑centric policies, supporting stressed CPS workers, and protecting abused and neglected children more effectively.
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Jamie and Alex delve into the harrowing issue of children dying within the Child Protective Services (CPS) system. They discuss a groundbreaking report revealing that 200 children have died while within the CPS system,
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Fear and Firing of Mandated Reporters (KARA podcast)…professionals being punished, losing their jobs, and facing lawsuits for fulfilling their duties
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America’s Child Protection System is producing the very harms it was meant to prevent: overflowing prisons, broken families, unsafe classrooms, and communities overwhelmed by untreated trauma. This post explains how secrecy, extreme caseloads, deregulation, and our refusal to recognize children’s rights have hollowed out CPS—and lays out four practical steps toward real reform: radical transparency, safe caseloads, rebuilt legal protections, and child‑centered laws that treat children as rights‑holders, not afterthoughts.
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Josh and Maya share a powerful story of a young boy on the brink of being locked up, not because he was dangerous, but because the system lacked transparency
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Child abuse in the home is still too often treated as a private family issue instead of a crime. Drawing on years as a CASA guardian ad Litem, this post exposes how Child Protective Services keeps abuse hidden, why children have no standing in court, and what must change so kids are truly safe in their own homes.
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KARA’s Digital Toolkit brings together free and low cost apps, trainings, and tech tools that help abused and neglected children cope with trauma and behavior problems. These resources are designed to support—not replace—professional care and can be shared with youth, caregivers, schools, and advocates.
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Foster care and group homes are supposed to protect our most troubled children, but for many they become another source of trauma. Youth in care face unstable placements, high rates of mental illness, overrepresentation in group homes, and far greater odds of homelessness, exploitation, and incarceration when they age out.
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Parental alcohol and drug abuse, especially in the context of poverty, is one of the strongest drivers of child abuse and neglect. From fetal alcohol spectrum disorders that injure children before birth to criminalized meth labs and chronic neglect, substance use reshapes a child’s brain, home, and future. This post explains how addiction, poverty, and policy collide to harm children — and why real solutions must treat substance use as both a child protection and public health crisis.
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Sexual abuse of a child is rarely a single “incident” or the act of a stranger in the dark; for many children, it is years of rape by the caregivers who are supposed to protect them. Most child sex abuse occurs in the home. This CASA Guardian ad Litem has experience two four-year-olds coming into…
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Child abuse in the United States is not rare or random — it is the predictable outcome of policy choices. In 2023, about 546,000 children were confirmed victims of abuse or neglect and an estimated 2,000 were killed, roughly five children every day. Most are hurt by their own parents, often after prior contact with Child Protective Services. These numbers vary wildly by state, proving that our systems can choose to protect children — or not.
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Emma and Daniel highlight the systemic issues of foster care in America, focusing on how foster youth struggle due to funding misallocation and harmful policies
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School counselors are often the only adults who truly see what traumatized students are living through. This article explains how trauma informed school counseling can spot abuse and adversity early, lead school wide change, coordinate crisis response, connect families to community support, and sustain counselors doing this work. With real world stories and a curated resource list, it’s a practical guide for counselors supporting students impacted by trauma and adverse childhood experiences.
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Minnesota’s Guardian ad Litem and CASA program has been under real strain—lost volunteers, rising caseloads, and stressed systems have put vulnerable children at risk. Alex Miller’s Minnesota CASA leadership as Chief Information Officer and Interim Program Administrator is helping move the program from crisis toward recovery. By modernizing technology, strengthening data security, and working transparently with the State Guardian ad Litem Board, he has helped stabilize turnover and rebuild trust. The result is a system that is slowly regaining its footing and putting more trained, supported advocates in the lives of abused and neglected children.
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Minnesota’s child protection system is repeatedly returning severely abused children to unsafe homes — and some are dying as a result. Drawing on the Star Tribune’s “In Harm’s Way” investigation, Safe Passage’s child fatality data, and my experience as a CASA guardian ad litem, this post exposes how opaque CPS practices, ignored warning signs, and a lack of accountability keep kids in danger. Learn what’s going wrong, why it matters for every Minnesotan, and how you can help push lawmakers to finally put children’s safety first.
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systemic issues within Child Protective Services (CPS) that have led to the tragic deaths of children, even after CPS involvement
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Market-based scholarship programs like Minnesota’s Early Learning Scholarships (MELS) prove these returns are scalable. MELS provides vouchers to low-income parents, empowering them to choose high-quality programs. Result: an 18% inflation-adjusted public ROI—higher than the S&P 500’s historical average111210. The keys to replicating this success are: Targeting at-risk children: Returns exceed $17 per dollar in high-poverty neighborhoods7. Parent empowerment:…
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Kids at Risk Action, hosts Alex and Jordan explore the profound impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and how childhood trauma can affect individuals throughout their lives, much like PTSD in veterans.
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Compared to other government expenditures, early childhood programs are uniquely cost-effective. K–12 education spends ~$15,000/student annually with diminishing returns; prison systems cost $40,000/inmate yearly with high recidivism. Meanwhile, early childhood interventions like Head Start save $4.8B–$16.1B per
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Kids at Risk Action, the hosts address the growing mental health crisis in child welfare, particularly in emergency rooms and foster care systems. They reveal alarming statistics, such as the significant rise in ER visits for children’s mental health crises and the systemic failures that leave many without proper care.
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Official child welfare numbers may capture only part of the crisis. This analysis explains how poverty, Family Assessment practices, underreporting, misreporting, and weak transparency can hide the true scale of harm to children—and why future projections must account for what the system fails to record.
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Childhood trauma, suicide and self-harm among American youth are at historic highs, with alarming increases among fosters, preteens, girls, LGBTQ+ youth, and children of color. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for ages 10–24, and nearly one in five high school students has seriously considered suicide in the past year. Rates of self-harm, especially among young girls and LGBTQ+ youth, have surged, with emergency room visits for self-injury rising dramatically since 2020
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