Free College Tuition For Fostered – Adopted Children

Minnesota’s Free Foster Care College (starting fall of 2022).

Here are recent positive developments in support of free & low cost college for foster and adopted youth;

Nineteen states have at least one Statewide student aid Promise Program

Federal programs for foster/adopted youth in all states

Making Child Protection Work (it takes a village)

The CASA volunteer guardian ad litem program provides a voice for a frightened child in the child protection system. Children removed from their homes become Wards of the State. Through the eyes of a child being in child protection is like being a cog in the wheel of a big machine.  Delivered from one provider to another, many foster children them have multiple foster homes because of unaddressed (under-addressed) mental health and behavior problems. 

Child Trafficking: Singular Story and Global Perspective

Human trafficking is the third most profitable criminal activity nationally and in the world. It is superseded only by the trafficking of weapons and drugs.   Human trafficking generates $32 billion in the US alone annually and $150 billion globally. While sex trafficking is largely associated with girls and women, young boys are just as likely to be…

MN Has 3rd Highest Sex Trafficking Cases in U.S.

January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month 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. Common targets of sex traffickers are abused & homeless children and people with addiction, and mental…

Domestic Violence Around the World

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD WINTER 2021   The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that we are seeing a horrifying global surge in domestic violence all over the world and is urging leaders to include protective measures in their pandemic plans. The depth and scope of violence against children was a terrible problem before the…

Grace’s Story (Thank you ChildrensRights.org)

Grace, a Black 15-year old who was sent to a juvenile detention center for failure to submit schoolwork.

In an email to Grace’s caseworker, her teacher stated that Grace was “not out of alignment with most of my other students.”

Tens of thousands of children have struggled to adjust to the online learning environment the coronavirus created. ProPublica cites 15,000 high schoolers in Los Angeles alone failing to log in or complete schoolwork. Yet, a judge presiding for Oakland County Family Court Division, ruled in May that not completing schoolwork violated Grace’s probation.

It’s impossible to determine the frequency of cases like Grace’s, but one thing is clear. Children’s health and safety must be prioritized. We will continue urging states to stop admissions and to release kids from juvenile facilities. No child should be in juvenile detention for missing homework.

Children Living & Dying As Martyrs to a Parents Religion

Many American newborns remain untested and untreated for very treatable metabolic disorders, hearing, sight & blood lead level s. 48 States allow religious exemptions from vaccination.

Some states allow religion to keep children from TB testing in school. 43 states give some kind of criminal or civil immunity to parents injuring their children by withholding medical care on religious grounds.

Six states let parents keep teachers from teaching their children about disease in school.

Over the years KARA has reported on children dying because their parents withheld medical treatment because the church told them to do so.

Some religions allow child neglect and abuse & some states allow a religious defense against charges of murdering their child – and “some can’t be charged with murder at all” (Slate).

2 years ago, Kansas State Rep Gail Finney vowed to pass a bill that allowed caregivers to leave bruises and cause bleeding. Arkansas State Rep Charles Fuqua promoted the death penalty for rebellious children (based on religious grounds).

As a volunteer County guardian ad-Litem, it has been awful to observe sexually abused two and four year old children and children suffering from violent physical abuse and neglect live through that abuse & try to overcome the terror and traumas inflicted upon them to make for themselves a normal life. Not many do.

KARA believes the U.S. should ratify the International Rights of the Child Treaty (we are the only nation not to have done so).

There are many cults in America that need to be exposed for the terrible way they treat children. Here’s one reported on by the Daily Beast this morning (send KARA your examples & forward this to your state rep).

Here’s a breakdown from Children’s Healthcare that shows a breakdown of states and their religious exemptions.

Women’s Rights & Children’s Rights

100 years ago, women were property (legally) and a husband could do just about anything to his wife. Murder was still murder, but anything else was treated by law enforcement much like animal abuse was in the day (not a big deal for the courts to be concerned with).

20 years ago I became a volunteer *CASA guardian ad Litem (voice for the child) in County child protection and saw first hand what it’s like for an American citizen to have no voice in the home, no voice in the courts and no voice in the media.

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 and not to be enslaved).

Helping Homeless Kids In Minnesota

COVID has overwhelmed much of our safety net for youth and finding shelter space is harder now.

Do you know a homeless or at risk youth in Minneapolis, ST Paul or Anoka ?(share this on your social media)

Tell them about the YMCA’s Communities Host Program where they can find safe, friendly and free shelter for up to a year at a time.

HOW TO HELP OR GET HELP

• To sign up to be a host home or for more details about the program, call the YMCA at 612-208-7381.

• Homeless youth age 24 and under can receive services such as meals and housing referrals at the Link’s drop-in center at Grace Lutheran Church, 7800 West County Road 42 in Apple Valley from 2-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

October Is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Watching your mother being beat up or raped is the same trauma as being beaten or raped to a five or nine year old.  Untreated trauma lasts forever and it changes a person forever.

The United Nation’s-Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that being confined with abusive partners during the pandemic has led to a “horrifying global surge in domestic abuse”.  This well organized domestic violence reporting and resource guide with hotlines and practical advice …

Foster Care Day Rates vs Dog Care Day Rates (it just doesn’t seem right)

Doggy day care is at least as costly (on average $50/day) than child care (on average $45/day) should make us think a little harder about how we value children in America. Kinship care subsidies in some states are below $10/day.

What’s it like to be a grandparent caring for a very troubled teenage grandchild living on social security?

It Can’t Happen Here (Sally’s Story)

This had to have been one of the most detailed Childline referrals the county had ever seen, not to mention Sally had a wonderful, dedicated psychiatrist. As the time went by, the treatment team eagerly awaited the results of her abuse referral, as she had won over the hearts of all the hospital staff and we all wanted to see her safe and free from harm.

The referral came back as unfounded.

Due to her intellectual and neurodevelopmental disabilities, she was deemed in-credible.

The School Safety Net

COVID restrictions have locked many more students into toxic homes and made it much harder for teachers to have the relationships necessary to have meaningful conversations and provide help to end the abuse.For many children being able to attend school physically is their only reprieve from an abusive home life and only chance to confide in an adult that can provide a path to safety.