Short Powerful Videos on Child Abuse Issues (20-30 seconds)
These short videos capture the realities of child abuse.
Share them widely and more of us will know how to do more for kids in painful places.
ACEs
TRAUMA EMPOWERMENT (what I’ve learned)
Trauma empowerment comes from identifying and understanding what has happened. As a CASA guardian ad litem, I’ve come to know many abused children. I was the second person John ever told of the things that were done to him when he was a boy – he died last year at 80. John lived for 30…
Give To the Max Day for KARA
Give To The Max Day Helps KARA Build our Financial Literacy Program!
Trauma, Children & Overwhelmed ER’s in Minneapolis
Fairview Masonic Children’s hospital has been overwhelmed with 145 emergency pediatric psych cases since September. A makeshift shelter in an ambulance garage is all that’s available at Fairview Masonic to protect children suffering from the traumas of child abuse and homelessness.
The Cost of Tough on Crime (in tax dollars and public safety)
The majority of violent and serious crime has always been committed by juveniles. Most juvenile offenders have come through Child Protective Services (MN Supreme Court Chief Justice KATHLEEN BLATZ “the difference between that poor child and a felon is about 8 years).
American Crime Costs & Statistics
California and Arizona have used failed 3rd grade test scores to assist in forecasting prison capacity growth. (Corrections Digest, April 12, 2002)
In 2022, 23% of Black and American Indian third graders in Minneapolis MN read at grade level.
6.11.21 NY votes to raise the minimum age of arrest from 7 to 12 and considers prohibiting the shackling of children and youth in family court.
KARA Current Initiatives
KARA Current Initiatives
Childhood Trauma – Making Children Crazy
This powerful ACEs Too High article contains tons of statistics and information related to the depth and scope of child abuse in America. What has struck me most is…
Tennessee’s Child Marriage Bill & Taliban Doctrine
Massachusetts has the lowest minimum marriage age with parental consent of 14 years old for boys and 12 years old for girls. Afghan parents sell their 7 year-old daughters into arranged marriages & the Taliban has for years practiced child sex abuse.
Tennessee may soon have child brides in common with the Taliban and Afghan parents.
Child Protection, Crime & Preteen Moms
Star Tribune Nowhere To Go For Most Troubled Youth, crime, preteen moms and juvenile injustice
LGBTQ Foster Care & Ground Truths
about a third of kids in NY’s foster care identify as LGBTQ and nationally, about 24% do. 40% of homeless kids in NY City identify as LGBTQ and 42% of them had been in foster care.
This NY Times article focuses on how hard life is for them. Many of these youth and children are in foster care because their parents rejected them.
Many are homeless, depressed and leading dysfunctional lives.
Every year about 12,000 children aged 5-14 years old are admitted to psychiatric hospital units for suicidal behavior. This and all the information following are PRE COVID.
Young children who have attempted suicide are up to 6 times more likely to attempt suicide again in adolescence
Growing Up Foster
Growing Up Foster, ‘The foster care system is broken’
There are an estimated 12,000 foster children in Minnesota, more than 8,000 of whom live in foster homes,
Child Protection Statistics and Carjackings
Child Protection Statistics and Carjackings;To solve carjackings and 83% and 90% recidivism rates, we need to track the successes and failures of children in State care if we are to improve their lives and strategies in place today.
LGBTQ Adoption & Religion
For decades, Evangelical Christians and the Catholic Church have led the charge disenfranchising Gay couples from adopting or fostering America’s most vulnerable children
Foster Care Reporting Post COVID
Foster Care Reporting Post COVID
How are the children living in foster care doing in your state?
Saving Vulnerable Foster Children – Saving the Volunteer Guardian ad Litem Program
This Star Tribune article by Neal St. Anthony points to a threat to the community volunteer Guardian Ad Litem program in this time of institutional stress.
If You Knew (what would you do?)
If you knew that 10,000 Minnesota’s CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) volunteers provided civic engagement, first person narratives, reporting, institutional transparency and many thousands of advocacy hours for babies, children & youth over the last 40 years in Minnesota’s Child Protective Services would you;
Foster Care vs Dog Care (Reimbursements)
For decades foster families have found most states unwilling to cover the costs of caring for the poor kids placed in care because of abuse and neglect.
In about half the States, kennelling/dog boarding pays more dollars than fostering a child. Dogs don’t need diapers or the near constant attention a troubled youth from Child Protective services does.
People food is also more expensive than dog food. Dogs don’t need shoes or shirts or money for “things” that children need and do.
30.2 % of America’s Youth Arrested Before Their 23rd Birthday (25% of us are state wards & special needs people)
This Annie E. Casey Foundation survey of Black youth in February 2021 demonstrates a rising trend of Black youth incarceration Post COVID.
Black youth in juvenile detention on Feb. 1, 2021, reached a pandemic high, while that of white youth was the second lowest recorded in more than a year.
Is This About Child Protection or Something Else?
It has been stated by program management that CASA volunteer time spent with abused and neglected children is of no value. Ask that question of any child removed from the only home they have ever known now passing through the cold scarey institution of judges, courts, foster and group homes where you don’t know anyone and new adult faces come and go after short periods.
Plenty of data Stories and literature provide proof
When Hope Dies (child self harm & suicide part 2)
Adolescents who had more than one suicide attempt prior to their initial hospitalization were 102% more likely to be re-hospitalized within 5 years for a suicide attempt than adolescents who had no prior attempts2.
Kendrea Johnson, Gabriel Fernandez & Child Suicide
Not far from my home, six year old Kendrea Johnson suicided by hanging while in foster care. Gabriel Fernandez & Seven year old Gabriel Myer suicides drew national media attention about the same time.
My first visit to a four year old State Ward as a CASA volunteer guardian ad Litem was at the suicide ward of a local Hospital. That visit to a tiny little girl who failed to kill herself has caused me to rethink child protection.
When Hope Dies (child suicide & self harm – part 1)
Kendrea (6) and Gabriel (7) successfully hung themselves a few years ago. They came from different states but suffered the same afflictions. Kendrea lived not far from me.
As a CASA guardian ad Litem, the commonality of self hate by the children I worked with in child protection – being so different, so unlovable that even your mother abandoned you, is devastating.
Happy GrandParent’s Day (volunteering, kinship & raising a grandchild)
Happy GrandParent’s Day (volunteering, kinship & raising a grandchild)
If You Knew (what would you do?)
If you knew that the vast majority of youth in Juvenile Justice came through Child Protective Services, would you;
Recent Child Welfare Articles & Statistics
Recent Child Welfare Articles & Statistics Summer 2022
FREE COLLEGE FOR MN FOSTERS (Village Gathering Info Session 9.9.22)
School is about to start for students across the state. For many of our Foster leaders, the classroom was a place of refuge, where, unlike their time in foster care, they had agency and connections. Over 80% of high school Fosters want to continue with post-secondary education, but that dream was financially out-of-reach for…
Arming Teachers/Shooting Students (advocating for less violence and a more civil society)
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.
Self-Destructive Habits & Institutions (Professionalism – Part 5)
Self-Destructive Habits & Institutions (Professionalism – Part 5)
Volunteers lack “professionalism” is a primary argument management is using to eliminate the community CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer guardian ad Litem program in Minnesota.
What 1.3 Million Dollars Could Provide At Risk Children (Arianna-Hunziker Settlement)
Arianna Hunziker 1.3 million dollar settlement. Blaming child protection workers solves nothing. It’s counter productive – people in these fields are asked to do more than they ever can do. It’s very hard work with too much sadness and failure.
Self-Destructive Habits & Institutions (Guardian ad litem program in MN Today – PART 4)
MN Senior Judge Lyonel Norris has stated that, “…an all employee model can create an institutionalizing effect upon a child”. I would add “an even greater” institutionalizing effect upon a child”.
Self-Destructive Habits & Institutions (Predicting the future – Part 3)
Eliminating the Volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) will hurt children, institutions, and our quality of life for years to come. Minnesota youth and young families are struggling. They need more, not less help.
American Crime Costs & Statistics
READ TO THE END TO LEARN THE COSTS OF CRIME IN AMERICA TODAY
Impossible Questions & Painful Statistics
Are children property of their parents even if those parentsre violent, addicted, severely mentally ill or dangerously criminal?
Child Rights, Religion, Parents & Making America Work For Children
Child Rights, Religion, Parents & Making America Work Again
Self-Destructive Habits & Institutions (Guardian ad litem program in MN Today) (PART ONE)
There may be no single right answer
to the problems of Child Protection in Minnesota –
but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater
Support / Invite a KARA Initiative To Your Campus or Community
Support – invite a KARA initiative to your campus or community! Financial Literacy For At Risk Youth 18 & Up – Invisible Children Campus Conversation –
Portages Skill Building
Why Finland’s Schools Outperform All Others
American schools are at a low point today. Teaching is harder than ever and performance is suffering across all ages. In Minneapolis today, 24% of Black 3rd graders are reading at grade level.
Kamari Gholston’s Death & Child Protection in MN
Star Tribune’s Investigative journalist Paul Walsh coverage of toddler Kamari Gholston’s death today shines a light on the importance of public understanding and support for Child Protective Services in our state.
Kamari’s death resembles Eric Dean’s case of 2014. Except Kamari…
Child Welfare Articles and Statistics For Week of 6.10.2022
Child Welfare Articles and Statistics For Week of 6.10.2022
Child Sex Abuse & The Mormon & Baptist Church (stopping child abuse requires adults report it)
The KARA article below from 2016 about the Mormon & Baptist Church hiding abuse provides insight into how hard it is to achieve transparency and accountability in children’s rights issues. This May 2022 NY Times article captures the fact that not much has changed.
Child Rape, Data, Reporting & Religion
This NY Times article about Baptist Sex-abuse survivors shines a light on the commonality of child sex abuse in America. For a very long time, Tennessee allowed ten year olds to wed (almost always to older men).
Child Protection Light is NOT Safe Passage For Children
To date this study documents parents who got this virtual free pass despite refusing medical treatment for children injured in a car crash, enabling sexual abuse of an infant, and a criminal conviction for malicious punishment of a child…,
Financial Literacy GRANT & Training for Foster Youth (free)
The KARA financial GRANT & literacy program is a place to learn, discuss and ask questions, skill building and meaningful guidance to help teenagers and young adults start their financial journey off on the right path.
Removing 100’s of Community Volunteers from Child Protection (why?)
Removing 100’s of Community Volunteers from Child Protection (why?) an accurate and troublesome picture of the conditions facing Minnesota’s at risk children today.
MN Child Daycare, New Moms & Paid Leave
How we value children in MN. 2/3 of new moms take unpaid leave after childbirth. Minnesota is the 4th most expensive state for infant daycare ($16,087/yr). Nationally, single moms and the working poor are often paying over half their income for infant center care and married parents would pay over 100% of their household income for center based care (but they don’t because it just doesn’t work).
CHILD ABUSE & SELF-HARM
CHILD ABUSE & SELF-HARM – “Up to 79% of individuals who self injure report physical and/or sexual abuse during his or her childhood”
COVID & Child Abuse in Minnesota
The Covid-19 pandemic is keeping children locked in toxic homes in Minnesota -Too many fostered youth are aging out of care – We need more forever families for our fostered youth today.
COVID-19 Impact on Child Welfare in Colorado
Calls to Colorado’s child abuse hotline fell during coronavirus, but harm to kids likely didn’t – COVID-19 is Stressing Colorado’s Child Welfare System -A growing number of Colorado children have lost a caregiver due to COVID
April is Financial Literacy Month (Fostered/Adopted Youth Invited)
Financial Literacy and Grant Program: The KARA financial literacy program is a place to learn, discuss and ask questions, find meaningful guidance and help teenagers and young adults start their financial journey off on the right path. Join our monthly peer group discussions about personal financial issues and real-world financial tools, seed funding, and problem-solving for each participant.