Mental Health Help
Medicine is changing – and it needs to.
Read about KARA’s pilot Portages program to provide 100 youth
with a powerful new mental health resource (share this widely)
CDC Charts Mental Health & Child Suicide Pre COVID
COVID is Hammering Children’s Mental Health
These charts show steadily rising trends over the ten year period before COVID. The data pointing to youth planning suicide in the past year is very serious (2019).
Child Sex Abuse & The Most Powerful Suicide Note Ever (Bill Zeller from 2011)
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).
Our Creeping Mental Health Crisis (& statistics)
Suicide is now the 2nd leading cause of death among 10 to 24 year olds. Over 1 million children under 6 are prescribed psychiatric drugs in America today.
KARA Financial Literacy Program
Kids At Risk Action is excited to launch our financial literacy groups and grant program in Minnesota! The financial literacy peer group program is a resource to learn, discuss, get help and answers to personal questions. It’s a resource for better answers and personal tools for avoiding money mistakes and growing financial wellbeing. KARA’s facilitated…
Recent Child Self-Harm & Suicide (state reporting summer 2021)
Recent Child Self-Harm & Suicide (state reporting summer 2021)
Minnesota Child Protection (thank you Safe Passage for Children)
Safe Passage for Children has followed up on the task force convened after the colossal failure of child protective services responsible for the death of Eric Dean and found that some of it’s recommendations were being ignored. This is a powerful piece
Domestic Violence Report August 2021
For abused children, there have been no classrooms to escape to and many mandated reporters have been unable to visit children to hear their stories and see their bruises.
This must feel like a war to children living in toxic homes.
Domestic Violence Resource Guide (National & International – share this widely)
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 resource guide with hotlines and practical advice …
Don’t Blame The Mandated Reporter (why child abuse reporting is sporadic)
Mandated Reporters genuinely fear for their safety and reputation and regularly fail to report (or, “see”) horrific child abuse to avoid potential damage to themselves.
MN Child Protection Reality Check (thank you Safe Passages for Children)
Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota has delivered hard news on what appear to be terrible practices guiding child protection in our community.
Supporting Parents of Disabled Children (guest post)
Disabled children are 3 to 10 times more likely to be abused than children without disabilities.
THE COST OF PUNISHING DAMAGED CHILDREN
Of all the things not working in America today, our punishment model is running smoothly.
It’s creating exactly what some of us must want; crime, violence, teen and preteen moms, extraordinary social and financial costs and a reputation for punishing the most vulnerable and damaged among us.
A Lethal Absence of Hope
The inability to read almost ensures a child’s failure in school and in life. School failure, feelings of worthlessness, depression and self-hate lead to giving up and the terrible choices left to children that have no hope.
Child Welfare Information (find your state here)
These recent articles reflect the stories of America’s at risk children and youth.
If we don’t know the issues, there doesn’t seem to be a problem.
If we don’t see a problem there is no need for a solution.
Their stories are real.
Find their story in your state.
ACE Study, Crime & Ramsey County (reprinted from 2006)
ACE research shows a strong historical pattern of criminality in families of child delinquents. Using Cohen’s estimates, we calculate the multi-generational “multiplier effect” to be between $3.4 and $11.5 million. In these families, criminality is likely to grow exponentially.
Self Destructive Habits & Institutions (CASA guardian ad litem program in MN Today)
over time, institutions cling to self-destructive habits and fight tooth and nail to keep them. Child protective services is not different
Pounding On At Risk Children
Growing up gay is a trauma to start with. Being anxious and feeling alone and different is at the heart of the abuse suffered by both. The traumas of growing up gay and growing up abused are similar.
Free Bikes For Kids Needs Help (to give away bikes)
KARA advocates for the people, policies and programs that improve the lives of abused and neglected children. KARA Signature Video (4 minute) For years FREE BIKES FOR KIDS MN has given away tons of bikes each summer. This year they have put out a call for volunteers to help them make it happen. CLICK here…
For Profit Youth Prisons & False Imprisonment
Youth are two to three time more likely to confess to crimes they did not commit than adults.
Police interrogations using fabricated statements are most likely why. Kids are more intimidated by law enforcement than adults and they break down faster.
There’s just no upside in sending youth to jail. Incarcerating them for crimes they did not commit is a sign of a dysfunctional system. A system that creates what it was designed to stop.
Trauma & Child Self-Harm
Today, the chronic high stress of the COVID lockdown is growing anxiety, depression and behavioral problems everywhere, but especially in the homes of at risk children.
COVID Complicates the Mental Health of Traumatized Children
The severity of the mental health issues hammering traumatized children suffering from the abuse, neglect and traumas of an entire year of COVID lockdown without respite will become apparent to all of us soon.
Congratulations Rich Gehrman and Safe Passage For Minnesota Children
“Through his work with Safe Passage, Richard has brought transparency and accountability to the Minnesota child welfare system,”
Child Abuse News & Statistics In Your State
CHILD ABUSE & CHILD PROTECTION IN YOUR STATE
Why Children Are Abused (chapter 3 overview)
WHY CHILDREN ARE ABUSED
Struggles for Foster Care Children in Education
America has long failed to understand and address the underlying issues that drive behaviors of traumatized children. Many end up suspended, expelled or in juvenile justice. Teen and preteen pregnancies are significantly more common among them than with their peers also.
Juvenile Injustice, Race & the Supreme Court
What the jury and others may not have known before the life sentence is that by the age of 14 Miller attempted suicide four times. The first time he tried to kill himself was at the age of six.
Due to experiencing abuse by his stepfather and his mother being a drug addict and alcoholic. The victim was actually his mother’s drug dealer at the time.
Children & Gun Violence (as American as Apple Pie)
n 2020, he child and teen gun death rate in the U.S. was more than 3 times higher than that in Turkey, the country with the next highest rate; 11 times higher than in Israel; 19 times higher than in Switzerland and 85 times higher than in the United Kingdom
Post COVID Juvenile Justice Trends (Casey Foundation Surveys)
his CASEY Foundation survey shows the population of Black youth in juvenile detention on Feb. 1, 2021, reached a COVID pandemic high, while that of white youth was the second lowest recorded in more than a year.
Aged Out Foster Youth Urged To Return (new federal benefits)
Youth who ‘aged out’ of foster care urged to return
New funding will provide $964 or more per month to eligible youth
Draft KARA Book Chapter 1
KARA’s team is collecting information from teachers, law enforcement, social workers, foster / adoptive parents, university students, adult survivors and traumatized youth to identify and address the causes of child abuse
Child Abuse & the COVID Lockdown
What’s it like for the social worker or guardian ad Litem knowing that the child they are talking to online is living in a toxic home of violence, child abuse and drugs?
It’s Inevitable (police shootings)
America’s militarized police force has become a front line mental health responder in communities suffering from the traumas of job loss, poverty, pandemic anxiety and sickness.
This is likely to result in more George Floyd type killings, more racial outrage and the violence that comes with it.
The Calculus of COVID, Domestic Violence and Child Abuse
What is the equation for a healthy human being or a healthy community? If there is an equation, the wrath of COVID is becoming a huge negative central to the calculation.
Best & Worst States For America’s Children
Where does your state rank in protecting children & what can you do to make improvements. These statistics tell the stories of our best and worst states around the nation
Child Protection/Unassigned CASA Guardian ad Litem Cases
Success Stories & Failure (unassigned child abuse cases)
We all like a happy ending. Especially when kids are involved.
A Marshall Plan For Traumatized Children Post COVID
Children living through the lockdown have more trauma and abuse. They will need help healing and to learn new skills to succeed in school & in the community – become a voice for children
Leaving the Field (teachers disappearing)
Today’s Star Tribune article by Erin Golden should put the shivers into all of us for several reasons.
Collateral Damage – ACEs – Education – COVID
COVID collateral damage; Teachers Turning to Other Careers shines a light on the punishing effects of ACES on education in our state…
We Are A Nation of Child Abusers
Nicholas Christof’s article in the NYTimes today points a finger at “pro-family” people “preserving” child poverty in America.
Lest you believe this a stretch, America stands out as the country with the highest child poverty rate and one of the lowest levels of social expenditure. This has been true for many years.
This means food insecurity for five year olds, and the statistical probability that homeless ten year olds are three times more likely to be sexually abused than other children.
There is a heartlessness behind the politics of separating immigrant babies from their mother (over 5000) and not returning those children to their birth parents (over 1000 still are separated today).
We the people now have public policies that have led to the sad reality that;
37% of children are reported to child protection agencies in this nation by their 18th birthday.
almost one third of American children will have a criminal record by their 23rd birthay
80% of youth aging out of foster care lead dysfunctional lives
Child Abuse & Soul Murder (chapter 2)
I’ve come to know 50 beautiful babies and children that have had their souls murdered.
All fifty of my caseload children lived with chronic and serious beatings, rape, starvation and neglect repeatedly over a period of years.
They all died a tragic death of self.
Some watched their mothers being beaten or raped repeatedly, others were beaten, neglected or raped repeatedly. Some of them were regular drug users by 8 or 9 years old.
Pilgrims, Punishment and ACEs (why we have what we have)
America’s pilgrims brought with them a punishment model that remains the heart of our civic and group think today.
Aging Out of Foster Care In the Time of COVID
COVID is coming down hard on foster children.
Pre-COVID, 80% of aged out foster children went on to lead dysfunctional lives.
Havoc In Texas & Florida Child Protection Services
Dallas News, on March third 2016, almost 6000 children needing immediate contact were not visited by CPS within the mandatory deadline for extreme cases
Youth Worker Podcasts (thank you YIPA)
These recent Passionate Youth Worker
podcasts give a great insight into
why youth workers do what they do.
Great stories and powerful thoughts;
Holiday Best Wishes To Everyone & the Best Foster Child Blogs
Be very careful what you believe to be true. There are many good people, the challenge is to find them.
Thank You & Happy Holidays
For the New Year, KARA is asking everyone to support the people, policies and programs that make life better for struggling families and children.
Call and write policy makers where you live and let them know about conditions for and needs of at risk children where you live.
Let’s all strive to make this a better, safer year for at risk children everywhere.
Stay on top of the issues by signing up and sharing KARA’s Free weekly email updates with people that can make a difference for the children that need it the most.
Christmas for Adult Survivors of Child Abuse (NAASCA radio talk show)
During the virus scare .. let’s each of us re-double our effort online and via the phone to inform
those around us of the devastating consequence of suffering childhood sexual abuse (CSA),
violent or physical abuse, emotional and mental trauma and neglect.
SPEAK FOR A CHILD (be a voice for a child)
Learn about the CASA guardian ad-Litem program and how your can make life better for abused and neglected children – Today, there are 500 abused and neglected children in Ramsey & Hennepin County child protective services without a guardian ad-Litem. Being a State Ward child is painful. Being a voice for that child is rewarding and makes a difference in the life of that child.
All Adults Are The Protectors of All Children; learn more here;
CASA MINNESOTA
CASA NATIONAL
A Free & Powerful Mental Health Resource For Minnesota Children
This three-part mental health program is app based and self-learning (a form of artificial intelligence, it knows the user) and includes unlimited coaching…