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.
Dallas News, on March third 2016, almost 6000 children needing immediate contact were not visited by CPS within the mandatory deadline for extreme cases
These videos are disturbing but accurate. Not knowing cannot help the state ward children of Florida (the password is “foster”). What we know, we can change. What we don’t know, gets worse until we do know.
Florida To Completely Privatize Juvenile Correctional Facilities. In an effort to reduce costs, Florida’s state-run residential programs for juveniles will soon be completely privatized. … About 95 percent of Florida’s youth residential facilities for underaged offenders are now privately run.
The State of Minnesota forcibly closed the privatized group home at St Cloud for repeated violations including head banging that caused concussions & sex in front of staff.
This news has been gathered by KARA volunteer Dr. Denise R. Womer, Ph.D., a former law enforcement officer for 17 years and former DCF Investigator for the State of Florida. Dr. Womer has taught in higher education for 14 years and currently is a Professor for Kaplan University teaching in the School of Social and Behavior Sciences.
March 1, 2017
Three charged with abusing autistic child at recreation center
PENSACOLA, Fla. (WEAR) —
Three adults were arrested Thursday afternoon after an investigation determined they were involved in the physical and mental abuse of an autistic child
Florida February Child Protection News gathered and presented by Dr. Denise R. Womer, Ph.D., is a former law enforcement officer for 17 years and former DCF Investigator for the State of Florida. Dr. Womer has taught in higher education for 14 years and currently is a Professor for Kaplan University teaching in the School of Social…
Florida Child Protection News is gathered for KARA by Dr. Denise R. Womer, Ph.D., a former law enforcement officer for 17 years and former DCF Investigator for the State of Florida. Dr. Womer has taught in higher education for 14 years and currently is a Professor for Kaplan University teaching in the School of Social and…
FL: DeWitt: Step up to save Hernando’s visitation center (Opinion)
Tampa Bay Times – October 15, 2015
What this state most certainly does not need is one less safe place for vulnerable children. That, however, is what it will get at the end of this month with the closing of the Family Visitation Center of Hernando County. Actually, the center in Citrus County will also shut down, making two fewer safe places.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/dewitt-step-up-to-save-hernandos-visitation-center/2249849
FL: Special-needs families find wait list up to 10 years long (May require free registration)
Orlando Sentinel – October 17, 2015
Theoretically, the state of Florida helps families like the Creeses. In fact, Avery is on the state’s waiting list to get a Medicaid waiver that would provide help, including at-home care to give Greg some relief, because, in Florida, the average wait time is six years.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-florida-medicaid-waiver-scott-maxwell-20151017-column.html
Most years, more citizens are killed by toddlers with guns than terrorists in America. This time, the toddler shot his mom in a Walmart store.
Gun manufacturers have found really effective marketing tools for selling guns to children (like the pink “Crickett” for five year old’s).
While guns are manufactured all over the world, most guns are sold to American citizens as other nations (except Switzerland) have come to understand the consequences of unregulated marketing of firearms.
In 2010, 18,270 children were killed and injured by gunfire – over 100 accidentally. Florida reported almost five hundred child deaths that occurred after the children were reported to Child Protection Services. A few years ago in Florida, to make matters worse, laws were introduced making it illegal for pediatricians to ask a patient about guns in the house or if they were locked away separately from the ammunition (as a child safety issue). The gun lobby is pretty strong in Florida (the child health and safety lobby is not). The initial bill sought a five million dollar fine and five years in prison for asking a Floridian if there was a gun in the home (that is nuts, right?)
Among the industrialized nations, America has slid to near the bottom of almost every public health indicator with 20 times more gun homicides, and way more mass murders, violent crime, criminals, prisoners, and unsafe streets. If we valued public health more, children more, safe streets more, maybe we could give the gun lobby a little more push-back and secure our communities from some of the sadness making the papers every day.
Medical News Today – October 09, 2014
More than half of federal and state prisoners are parents of nearly 1.5 million minor children, and one-fifth of prisoners have children under the age of five. Children of incarcerated parents are more likely to have witnessed criminal activity and/or the arrest of the parent, both of which have been shown by researchers to have unique effects undermining children’s socio-emotional and behavioral adjustment. Also: Empowering Our Young People, and Stemming the Collateral Damage of Incarceration: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/10/08/empowering-our-young-people-and-stemming-collateral-damage-incarceration Information Gateway Resources: Children in Out-of-Home Care With Incarcerated Parents: https://www.childwelfare.gov/outofhome/casework/children/incarcerated.cfm
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/283562.php?tw
US: Childhood psychological abuse as harmful as sexual or physical abuse
EurekAlert! – October 08, 2014
Children who are emotionally abused and neglected face similar and sometimes worse mental health problems as children who are physically or sexually abused, yet psychological abuse is rarely addressed in prevention programs or in treating victims, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-10/apa-cpa100814.php
In the wake of a bloody year for Florida youngsters, lawmakers have pledged to repair the state’s frayed safety net for abused and neglected children.
But as the state’s annual legislative session winds toward the final gavel, many children’s advocates say legislative leaders have failed to match their words with action and fear some proposals may create new problems.
Gov. Rick Scott has proposed spending $39 million to hire 400 “boots on the ground,” or child abuse investigators who will respond to hotline reports and identify at-risk kids. But investigators typically work with a family for 60 days or less, and then families in need of follow-up help are sent to privately run local agencies.
Those agencies, the governor says, don’t need new money. The agencies counter that if the governor’s plan goes through, their already-backlogged caseloads will swell and families will compete for the services they need to keep children safe. They are asking for $25.4 million more.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In decisions widely hailed as milestones, the United States Supreme Court in 2010 and 2012 acted to curtail the use of mandatory life sentences for juveniles, accepting the argument that children, even those who are convicted of murder, are less culpable than adults and usually deserve a chance at redemption.
But most states have taken half measures, at best, to carry out the rulings, which could affect more than 2,000 current inmates and countless more in years to come, according to many youth advocates and legal experts.
“States are going through the motions of compliance,” said Cara H. Drinan, an associate professor of law at the Catholic University of America, “but in an anemic or hyper-technical way that flouts the spirit of the decisions.”
Lawsuits now before Florida’s highest court are among many across the country that demand more robust changes in juvenile justice. One of the Florida suits accuses the state of skirting the ban on life without parole in nonhomicide cases by meting out sentences so staggering that they amount to the same thing.
In Florida it is against the law for a Pediatrician to ask a patient about guns in the house.
In 2010 almost 20,000 children were killed or wounded by firearms in America (A child is killed or wounded every thirty minutes) (Slate article Feb 1)
Simply explaining public health issues to parents seems like a natural function of the medical profession.
At Children’s Health of Ocala, Florida, Pediatrician, Dr. Okonkwo was asking routine public safety questions about swimming pools, bike helmets & loaded guns in the home of one of his patients.
Dr Okonkwo was right about locking ammunition and guns separately as a public health issue for children.
For this he could be accused of “unnecessarily harassing” the mother of his patient (the child).
Turns out, it is against Florida law to ask questions about gun ownership or ammunition in the entire state of Florida. The initial bill called for a five million dollar fine & five years in prison (for asking a Floridian if there was a gun in the home).
CA: Programs for transitioning San Diego foster youth
San Diego Entertainer Magazine – November 26, 2012
Just in Time for Foster Youth (JIT) envisions a future in which every youth leaving the foster care system has a community of caring adults waiting for them after 18. We believe consistent, long-term help from the heart is the foundation for the success of our youth so that they can thrive and enjoy productive, satisfying lives.
http://www.sdentertainer.com/lifestyle/just-in-time-for-foster-youth-steve-sexton/
Thank you Florida legislators for recognizing the needs and value of abused and abandoned children.
Please keep up the good work. You are a shining example to the nation.
Florida child abuse, and with it a rise in bullying. The state Department of Children and Families says there’s also an increase in the severity of the cases, with 59 deaths so far this year being investigated as possible child abuse.
Postscript… I too have had 4 year old and 7 year old suicides as a Hennepin County guardian ad-Litem and a judge that has shared with me the pages of documented Prozac, Ritalin, and other Psychotropics given to very young children. This conversation needs to take place at a higher level (where something can be done about it).
America’s child protection system is failing the very children it was built to save. Instead of preventing abuse, neglect, and family destruction, CPS has become part of the machinery that fills prisons, shatters families, destabilizes classrooms, and overwhelms our health‑care system with preventable trauma, mental illness, violence and addiction. Wrapped in layers of conflicting privacy rules and starved of honest data, child protection agencies hide more than they reveal—leaving lawmakers to make life‑and‑death decisions in the dark, social workers crushed under impossible caseloads, and at‑risk children returned to dangerous homes or lost in a foster care maze that rarely heals the damage already done.
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.
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.
This deep dive expands on KARA’s child welfare crisis post by walking through five Northeastern University capstone projects. Together, they use national data, infant mortality models, county level forecasting, and poverty analysis to show where children are most at risk—and how KARA AND YOU can use this research to drive policy change.
Contrary to a common assumption, neglect is not less damaging than abuse. Research shows neglect victims have lifelong problems because they miss developmental milestones around language, self-control, and bonding with others.
A constant dilemma in neglect cases is whether to traumatize children by removing them from their families, or leave them in situations where their brains aren’t developing normally.
Quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) programs can make it possible to leave children at home while helping their parents improve parenting skills.
This study documents that neglect victims who got ECE moved quickly from having a language deficit to the normal range. Language development is critical to academic success and positive interpersonal relationships.
ECE can help many children avoid foster care and still obtain the baseline skills they need to thrive.
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Most of what we know about foster care comes from very thin data: how many children are in care, how many enter or exit each year. That’s not enough to guide policy or spending. This post explains which foster care outcomes Minnesota and other states still don’t track—years stuck in care, abuse in placement, endless moves, school disruption, medication without therapy, and what happens after youth age out—and why demanding honest, de‑identified data is one of the most powerful things you can do for abused and neglected children in your community.
This is the longest and most powerful and articulate suicide note I’ve ever read and it has great meaning to me for its power to relate these two incomprehensible sorrows (abuse & suicide).
Contrary to a common assumption, neglect is not less damaging than abuse. Research shows neglect victims have lifelong problems because they miss developmental milestones around language, self-control, and bonding with others.
A constant dilemma in neglect cases is whether to traumatize children by removing them from their families, or leave them in situations where their brains aren’t developing normally.
Quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) programs can make it possible to leave children at home while helping their parents improve parenting skills.
This study documents that neglect victims who got ECE moved quickly from having a language deficit to the normal range. Language development is critical to academic success and positive interpersonal relationships.
ECE can help many children avoid foster care and still obtain the baseline skills they need to thrive.
Join the Discussion on Facebook
Make a difference for the children of Minnesota today,
Donate Here!
Compared to other advanced nations America treats children and the people who care for them as an afterthought and then acts surprised when our schools and child‑welfare systems are overwhelmed with troubled children suffering from health and mental health issues.
Each week, children are escaping brutal homes, being harmed in foster care, and caught in CPS systems that too often miss clear danger or punish families without proof. From multimillion‑dollar settlements and court battles in Texas, Washington, New York, and Illinois to new laws and policies that could reshape how abuse and neglect are investigated, this roundup highlights the most urgent child protection stories advocates, professionals, and concerned community members need to see right now.
LGBTQ youth are far more likely to land in foster care — and far more likely to face homelessness, abuse, and suicide attempts once they do. This piece shares hard
Child Fatality & Egregious Incident Reporting: A U.S. Overview America’s approach to exposing and understanding the gravest harms done to children—fatalities, near-deaths, torture, and catastrophic agency failures—reveals a nation deeply divided by geography, law, and political will. The result is a patchwork of minimal transparency. Some states shine a light on information that has been…
Child abuse doesn’t stop for holidays or election years. In just the first 45 days of 2026, sad stories and new statistics are already piling up. This post tracks those cases and numbers to show how many invisible children still need our protection.
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.
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.
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.
A Minneapolis teacher describes a 17 year old who carries his U.S. passport everywhere after ICE raids—showing how immigration enforcement terrorizes children, families, and classrooms.
There is a growing abolition / “dismantle CPS” movement in the U.S., but so far it is more rhetorical and advocacy‑driven than implemented in statute, and no state has fully “deregulated” or abolished CPS.
Advocates, scholars, and campaigns such as Dorothy Roberts’ abolition work, Operation Stop CPS, and related networks call for ending the current family‑policing model, sharply curbing investigations, and replacing CPS with community‑based supports.
There are few states that report out egregious harm or death of children at the hands of their parents. Minnesota Nonprofit Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota has recently compiled this report on 88 of the 200 children dying at the hands of caregivers. It should be a model for all states. How they died, why they died, and what wasn’t done that allowed these children to live such tortured lives and die so tragically. Share the report with your State Representative with a note about keeping at-risk children alive.
KARA compiles articles, research, and reports on child abuse and child protection around the nation & internationally. This reporting covers child suicide and suicide statistics in the100+ articles listed below.
Child Fatality & Egregious Incident Reporting: A U.S. Overview America’s approach to exposing and understanding the gravest harms done to children—fatalities, near-deaths, torture, and catastrophic agency failures—reveals a nation deeply divided by geography, law, and political will. The result is a patchwork of minimal transparency. Some states shine a light on information that has been…
The combined cuts to child friendly programs will impact some states more than other. This article presents a snapshot of what different states will be experiencing. Send KARA information concerning what’s happening in your state (send to info@invisiblechildren.org with CUTS in the subject line).
California:
Between DOGE cuts to child friendly programs and policies and the big beautiful bill, the cuts and service reductions described below will impact millions of children and families nationwide. In the foster care system alone, over 343,000 children are currently in care across the United States, with the largest numbers…
Yanelin Montalvo-Valdez (yesterday Star Tribune) personifies the pain and punishment heaped upon the 50 innocent children I advocated for as a CASA Guardian ad Litem volunteer
Much of this article is taken from Marie Cohen’s remarkable research at the American Enterprise Institute. For those of you concerned with Child Protective Services in your community, Marie’s article is detailed and powerful. It could change your State Representative’s mind about transparency in CPS (Child Protective Services) where you live (share this state rep…
Why do so many fosters aging out of care struggling in school, becoming homeless, addicted, have criminal records and unable to hold down a job?
child abuse around the nation and internationally.
Many foster youth and abused and neglected children in toxic homes suffer especially during the holidays. There is no joy in being removed from your birth home or to continue living in a birth home with broken parents and the behaviors that come with abusive caregivers.
About 25% of the children and young adults in California foster care have attempted suicide. 41% of LGBTQ kids seriously thought of killing themselves last year.
37% of children overall and 44% of Black children are reported to child protection services in America
by the time they turn 18. (American Journal of Public Health 1.17)
7.8 million children a year are reported to child protection services.
KARA compiles child abuse and neglect stories and data about
abused and neglected children
Repeated childhood trauma does cruel things to children. Things that never go away. Those things (behaviors/thoughts/self-harm/suicide) can be managed with help. Without help, depression, pain and sadness often become overwhelming.
Teachers feel undervalued and overwhelmed.
Turnover his high and a number of states are using
unqualified people to fill positions.
What parents should do after a child’s suicide attempt? Answering caregivers’ frequently …