This article initially published in 2009 is critically important in the current Child Neglect conversation happening in our nation today.
“Kids Are Slowly Being Neglected To Death” –
Hennepin County Judge Jane Ranum
(Thank You from the children in my caseload)
Today’s antigovernment sentiment, actions and rhetoric (1 minute video) are inflicting great harm on abused and neglected children.
Today in Minnesota, about two‑thirds of screened‑in child protection cases are handled as “Family Assessments” instead of full investigations, and only about one‑third become formal Family or Facility Investigations. That means most CPS responses focus on assessing needs and offering services without making a maltreatment finding, which can support families—but may also leave serious abuse or chronic neglect under‑documented and harder to track over time. Families that ignore or refuse services face no consequences and the child remails in the home without further investigation. These Minnesota children paid a high price.
See more details about MN CPS in the READ MORE below.
From the article in 2009:
Thank You former MN Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Blatz for joining the task force and your years of speaking out about the serious failures within our child protection system. Thank You Pioneer Press reporter Ruben Rosario and Star Tribune reporter Brandon Stahl for your investigative reporting on the slow, tortured death of Eric Dean after 14 ignored reports of abuse to CPS. From the fifty children in my CASA guardian ad-Litem caseload, Thank You.
Thank You Governor Mark Dayton for using the long overdue “colossal failure” language to describe an overburdened, misunderstood, and under-supported child protection system and creating the investigative task force to make it work better for children.
You have given voice to the tragic failure of child protection services after multiple reports of child abuse to state agencies. Without Child Protective Services, abused and neglected services have no voice; Not in the homes they are raised in, the courts, the media or the state legislature. Abused and neglected children are invisible.
We the public find child abuse uncomfortable and until a baby is found in a dumpster and then we wring our hands about how awful this is how it happens.
That the parent was a fourth generation abused preteen drug addicted mother with no parenting skills and a violent boyfriend is never known or addressed. None of the fifty children I lobbied as a CASA Guardian ad Litem to remove from their toxic homes ever made the newspaper. Not the baby with the bottom half of her body burned off, the boy who was tied to a bed, beaten, starved, and sexually abused for four years, or the ten other very young children who were also sexually abused – 2,3, 4, years old. Most of these children remained in their homes suffering their abuse for years.
Many of these very young children were given psychotropic medications instead of useful mental health services and they never did receive the help they needed to recover from the violence that had been done to them as children. Most of my guardian ad-Litem kids did not go on to lead productive lives.
In 2009, only seven percent of reported MN child abuse cases were investigated. Family Services are being offered significantly more often than in 2009 (as discussed by the judge at the end of this 6-minute video).
As a CASA Guardian ad Litem for 12 years, only the very worst of the very worst cases ever make it into child protective services and high caseloads struggle to provide the resources and oversight required for children to find the safety, healing, and skill building they need to succeed in school and the community.
In Minnesota, about two‑thirds of screened‑in child maltreatment cases are handled as Family Assessments (alternative response) instead of traditional investigations.
Minnesota’s latest numbers
From Minnesota’s 2023 Child Maltreatment Report:
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In 2023, there were 23,507 completed assessments or investigations involving 30,444 alleged child victims following screened‑in reports.
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Of these cases, 66% were assigned to Family Assessment, Minnesota’s alternative response path.
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The remaining 34% were handled as Family or Facility Investigations.
In 2022, the pattern was almost identical:
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65% of the 24,489 screened‑in cases were assigned to Family Assessment and 35% to Family or Facility Investigation.
So, for a concise statement:
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In recent years, roughly two‑thirds of Minnesota’s screened‑in child protection cases are handled through assessment rather than investigation, and about one‑third get a full Family/Facility Investigation.
KARA / KIDS AT RISK ACTION / INVISIBLE CHILDREN
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