There is no shortage of well-meaning volunteers and workers dedicated to improving the lives of the children they are serving as teachers, Guardians ad Litem, social & healthcare workers, law enforcement and adoptive/foster parents.
When the going gets tough it is instinct is to buckle down and work harder, live with the results and soldier on. But this is not working for millions of children in our nation today. 7.8 million children are reported to Child Protection Services each year and only a fraction of them are receiving the help they need to stay safe from the violence and traumas they suffer from. Fewer yet find healing and skill building to help them live a productive life.
Our institutions are suffering under the strain. Turnover in these fields is a big and growing problem and results across the board are dismal. These problems are decades old and now too large to be solved with the resources and solutions available today.
Significant institutional change happens when those of us that know the critical issues and have seen better answers start to talk about those problems and solutions loudly and often. For those of you who want a deeper look into good policy spend a few minutes investigating a Minnesota Best Practices Child Safety nonprofit here:
When you know more, speaking out is easier and more effective. By speaking out, our friends and neighbors will know more and make better decision in the voting booth and support those organizations that are doing good work.
By speaking out, more people will come to understand that the ACEs healing model is critical for better results in schools, public health, public safety and happier, more livable communities.
Only if more of us speak out and advocate for these kids our friends and neighbors will understand the ground truth about why these children don’t do well in school and have so much trouble leading productive lives and spend so much time in the courts and jails.
Without understanding, the chances of our friends and neighbors supporting the daycare programs, crisis nurseries and young family and early childhood programs necessary to break the cycle of generational child abuse & traumas that are wreaking havoc on at risk children are slim.
The opposite of what needs to happen is happening all around us. Even fiscally sound volunteer community organizations are losing their funding. These organizations function on small dollars and manage tons of free help from the community are threatened with elimination.
CASA Guardian ad Litem and Child Advocacy Centers are excellent examples of hundreds of thousands of volunteers helping many hundreds of thousands of abused and neglected children in communities throughout the country being threatened by the politics of our time.
Without our voices, abused and neglected children stay in toxic homes and don’t find the safety and healing they need to live a productive life. Instead, many of them become preteen moms and adolescent felons.
WHEN YOU Share KARA’s reporting with FRIENDS, INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK and most of all, your State Representative (find them here) change will come a little bit faster.
This app helps you organize and be more effective with your advocacy:
https://5calls.org/
Small efforts = real results.
When enough of us become informed and speak up for abused and neglected children, we will improve their lives and our communities!
Support KARA’s work with a small monthly donation:
KARA short videos on the topic in the read more below.
It’s Hard Being A Foster Child
How Many Children Are Reported to Child Protection?
Suicide and Children (1 minute)
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