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Aug292018

Catholic Charities of Boston vs. The Vatican (from 2012)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Religion, Politics + the Law

I should know. I was the chairman of the board of directors for Catholic Charities of Boston.

I feel compelled to set the record straight and let voters in Maine, who might not remember what actually happened, know the truth.

Like many of my fellow Catholics, I believe our greatest commandment is to help those who are in need and to love our neighbors as ourselves. That call is why I joined the board of directors of Catholic Charities of Boston.

I was especially proud of our work facilitating the adoption of abandoned and neglected children.

Catholic Charities used the one and only criteria that’s appropriate for adoption agencies — the best interest of the child.

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Jun202018

YAY Teachers (running for office)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Religion, Politics + the Law

Our mean spirited and child unfriendly politics is driving teachers into public office. This is a sample and it the most positive movement towards better treatment of children than we have seen in a long time. Blaming teachers for trouble schools is so wrong.

Looking for better schools, higher graduation rates and safer communities? Support schools and the people on the front lines.

What we do to our children, they will do to society (Pliny the Elder 2000 years ago)

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Apr272018

Child Friendly / Less Friendly Candidates For Governor (thank you Safe Passage For Children MN)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Religion, Politics + the Law

Safe Passage deserves big kudos for this survey of declared candidates for MN Governor. Until recently, not many legislators understood the depth and scope of the problems facing at risk children in our state (or any state).

It is only by asking lawmakers to express their knowledge and views about child abuse and child protection that we can vote in people that understand the traumas these kids suffer from, heal them and l interrupt the epidemic of trauma and abuse in our community that is wrecking our schools, public health and safety.

Read candidate responses here and share this link with your friends and contacts.

Thank you Safe Passage For Children MN

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Mar92018

Good Governance, Betsy DeVos & Education For the Rest of Us

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Religion, Politics + the Law

Institutions define us (they keep us safe, educated and healthy)Why anyone with a stake in a safe, functioning community would withhold support or throw rocks at people doing this work is incomprehensible.

Turning our schools, highways, corrections and care of the young, sick and elderly into the hands of greed driven Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli and Trump University folks is not helping build healthy communities. It’s to be expected that institutional outcomes (public health, public safety, public education – don’t forget bridges) are suffering. Performance of any complex institution or endeavor demands support & critical thinking.

A safe, livable community requires support for the worker bees laboring in schools and other social institutions for those institutions to perform well. It’s for your own good.

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Mar62018

Prosecuting Legislators (can this work?)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Religion, Politics + the Law

A single Minneapolis hospital, HCMC sees 800 to 1000 emergency psychiatric visits a month (one of many metro hospitals).

There have never been enough beds and there will never be enough Prozac to humanely treat the people suffering from terrifying mental health problems.

When 6 year old foster child Kendrea Johnson suicided by hanging, her grandmother sued the County. After Jeff Weis shot dead his grandfather, himself and 8 others at Red Lake MN the community built a modern mental health facility so that it wouldn’t happen again.

The only stories that come to our attention are the most horrific.

There are thousands of stories left unknown except to the DHS staff, social workers and law enforcement, foster and adoptive parents, teachers & health workers dealing with severe, chronic and often dangerous people that would benefit with the help we are talking about.

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Feb252018

Faith Healing Child Death (more common than you think)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Religion, Politics + the Law

Two members of an Oregon Sect that believes in faith healing were charged with murder in the death of their premature infant daughter. What would Jesus do? this is not a difficult spiritual question.

8 month old Brandon Schaible died of treatable pneumonia as did two year old Ella Foster because their parents didn’t believe in medicine, Two of Herbert and Catherine Schaible’s children died years apart from each other for the same reason.

Children in Idaho have been dying by the dozens for years at the hands of their parents. By 2014 144 children lay in the Peaceful Valley Cemetery because their parents denied them available medical care – it is likely that the number is above 200 today.

This U.S.is the only nation on the planet to not sign the International Rights of the Child Treaty, most likely because the treaty bans training children as soldiers which our Southern States do regularly (military schools).

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Dec212017

Children As Political Chips – how bad can this get?

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Religion, Politics + the Law

CHIP provides health care coverage to nearly 9 million children. Approximately 1.9 million children are at risk of having their CHIP coverage terminated during the month of January if Congress takes no action.

Call your Senator & let them know that playing politics with the life of a child is awful. Be bold and tell them that you could not support someone who would allow the life of a child to be less important than a political party chit.

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Feb222017

Protecting Children From Bad Politics (a note from the Child Welfare League of America)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Religion, Politics + the Law

Protecting Children in Changing Times   Our Children at Risk Never before in the Child Welfare League of America’s (CWLA) 100-year history has there been a higher level of anxiety and uncertainty about the fate and well-being of our children. The plans and policies of the new leadership in Washington, DC, will do egregious damage to social…

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Nov292016

The Election & Children (from Safe Passages For Children of Minnesota)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Religion, Politics + the Law

This recent piece from Safe Passages for Children of Minnesota paints a more positive picture for Minnesota’s at risk children than can be seen in the rest of the nation.

It’s good to know that MN politicians on both sides of the isle care about the youngest and most vulnerable among us. They recognize that healthy children become healthy adults creating a safe and productive community.

The rest of the nation’s children are at risk as attacks on healthcare and education will dismantle working programs and the well-being of millions of America’s poorest and youngest citizens.

Politicians blaming educators and other service providers replace objective discussions about what it takes to improve safety nets and troubled institutions. It hurts me to see just how quickly children’s services become wasted money that some states have been all too ready to reduce for political benefits.

Thank you Minnesota legislators for doing the right thing. Your critical thinking skills and the ethical standards you have maintained to accomplish so many of the recommendations from the Governor’s Task Force on Child Protection Services and Mental Health will benefit this state for decades to come.

As the holiday season approaches, let’s all be grateful for the hard work of these two task forces (and the people that volunteered to staff them) and the results they have accomplished this year.

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Sep22016

Using Bibles In Defense of Child Abuse (not the Jesus I knew)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Religion, Politics + the Law

Indiana Governor and Vice Presidential Candidate Mike Pence’s Religious Freedom signature law RFRA allows beating 7 year old’s with a coat hanger leaving bruises and bleeding severe enough to cause the child’s doctor to have mom arrested.

It will be a very sad thing an Indiana Court uses Pence’s law to rule that bibles can be used to torture and traumatize children.

A few years ago I spoke to adoptive parents in Indiana where the prior Governor, Mitch Daniels redirected the funding promised to families adopting special needs children (after the adoptions were completed) to his appointees in social services who could cut the most from social services programs.

Mitch was also running for Vice President at the time. My conversations with those families were really sad (really, really sad).

For the second time in just 3 election cycles, Indiana Governor’s have shown children just how little they matter to the State.

Tiny stepping stones to higher political office; kids can’t vote and only make the media under the most tragic of circumstances. A clear win for Indiana Governor’s (and a few other states too).

If there is a silver lining in Indiana Governor’s political abuse of children, it is that Indiana’s helpless kids are the only youth voice in America’s most important political battle (there is no other meaningful child friendly discourse in our presidential election).

Know anyone in Indiana? Share this with them and suggest that using children as political stepping stones should be a crime.

All Adults are the Protectors of All Children

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