Peter Hutchinson’s recent Star Tribune article points to how the current MN budget surplus could fully fund programs that would make children healthier, better educated and (ALL OF US) safer.
Details
https://invisiblechildren.org/2013/07/04/mandated-reporting-or-basic-responsibility-its-absence-is-killing-wisconsin-pennsylvania-children/ Facebook Replacing Mandated Reporters for Child Abuse? Don’t Blame The Mandated Reporter (why child abuse reporting is sporadic) Fear and Firing of Mandated Reporters of Child Abuse Being A Mandated Reporter (and what it means) Reporting Maltreatment Of Children; How Minnesota Does It (State Statute – 626.556) Tolerating Child Death in Minnesota (thank you…
Details
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.
Details
COVIDs Impact on CPS, CASA volunteers, & Guardian ad Litem Staff
Details
Child Protective Services (CPS) can’t keep children safe (or alive) in opposition to State and Federal law.
Details
For success happen for children requires people able to work within a rigid system but willing to test the boundaries of what your office can achieve for the children in this highly regulated and bureaucratic system.
Details
Any conversation about Child Protective Services needs to include a deep dive into racial disparities, religious and parental rights, and common misconceptions about CPS and child abuse.
Details
The public knows almost nothing about the depth and scope of child abuse in their community
Details
If the medical community, Children’s Defense Fund and former MN Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz are right, the vast majority of crime in America is the result of what happened to that person as a child.
Details
CPS reality check in the current political battle for community CASA guardian ad Litems in MN. To put it bluntly, what’s good for the administrators often may be bad for the children.
Details
America’s CHILDHOOD TRAUMA and ACES Impact INVISIBLE CHILDREN
Details
WHEN YOU Share KARA’s reporting with FRIENDS, INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK and most of all, your State Representative (find them here) change will come a little bit faster. When enough of us become informed and speak up for abused and neglected children, we will improve their lives and our communities! Please support KARA’s work with a small monthly donation: CLICK…
Details
There is a fire smoldering on the topic of child protection in America today
Details
Expecting Different Results From Prison for Kids
Details
Minnesota’s new Supreme Court Council on Child Protection and Abuse Prevention
Details
What topic needs more attention on KARA’s website?
Email you answer to info@invisiblechildren.org with SURVEY in the subject line.
Details
KARA’s
Google Ad Grants
fully funded Initiative for
CASA’s & Service Providers
To At-Risk Children
Human Services – Beyond Crisis: core social service issues making even a safe life impossible for more and more people
Details
KARA compiles child abuse and neglect stories and data about
abused and neglected children
Details
It is important to note that the U.S. is the only nation in the world to not have ratified the United Nation’s RIGHTS OF THE CHILD TREATY of the 1980s.
Details
America’s Children In 100 Charts
Child abuse is invisible. It is a core problem in every American community impacting all of us, our institutions, and every aspect of our quality of life every day.
To be fair, what does an overwhelmed institution do when caseloads double and budgets are cut in half? Rural counties will always be underfunded, understaffed and unable to provide the level of service larger urban areas can with their larger budgets giving them more options.
Details
From Ann Ahlstrom (bold emphasis from KARA)
August 19, 2024
Greetings Minnesota Volunteer Guardians ad Litem:
Details
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.
Details
Let’s imagine a government that controls (1) automobile safety standards, (2) the state inspection for compliance with automobile safety standards (3) the automobile repair industry, all within the same department, and all done in official secrecy so as to protect the privacy of would-be drivers.
And let’s also suppose that the people who drive automobiles are, 98% of them, poor and very young people, who have no effective political voice.
Details
Teachers feel undervalued and overwhelmed.
Turnover his high and a number of states are using
unqualified people to fill positions.
This fall and winter, KARA is inviting universities, community centers, and businesses to engage our INVISIBLE CHILDREN COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS.
Details
FOSTER CARE REALITIES
Children are fostered only if they have been removed from homes where egregious harm has happened to them and a judge thinks their lives are in imminent danger.
Details
Fear and Firing of Mandated Reporters of Child Abuse – A lawsuit and threatened firing of a 40-year veteran nurse and mandated reporter in California is ruining my week. This will bring fear to nurses and other mandated reporters of child abuse everywhere.
Details
For over twenty years
Highland Banks and their employees
have supported KARA
and other child advocate organizations in Minnesota.
Minnesota has ended criminalizing fetal alcohol birth mothers with the hopes of better results by recommending treatment instead of mandatory programs and prosecution for failure.
Details
What To Do For At Risk Children (a list of important things) From easy and quick to hard and long, a list (in progress – your suggestions welcome)
If you are concerned about at-risk children where you live, Check it Out!
Details
Kids At Risk Action presented a workshop at the fourth annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations in New York
Details
Child Protection/CPS: If Lawmakers Only Knew (why they don’t – & why they should) Not many lawmakers come to the job understanding child abuse and what happens to children in CPS (Child Protective Services). Few legislators have experienced childhood trauma or the institution (CPS) that protects children from growing up in homes of life-threatening harm.
Details
Who Will Speak For The Children?
Child Protection work is hard. Community CASA volunteers (Court Appointed Special Advocate) speak for abused and neglected children in County Child Protection.
Volunteer CASA Guardians ad Litem spend their days with abused and neglected children that have been raped, neglected, beaten, and tortured by other means.
Details
Intake notes from County CPS
These are a tiny sample of County intake notes
social workers and guardians ad Litem are assigned each week;
Details
Explaining Juvenile Justice and Lifetime Sentencing In a Moral Society
Details
What parents should do after a child’s suicide attempt? Answering caregivers’ frequently …
Details
KARA Presentation Janesville CASA (heart of the matter)
Child Protection work is hard. Community CASA volunteers (Court Appointed Special Advocate) speak for abused and neglected children in County Child Protection.
Volunteer CASA Guardians ad Litem spend their days with abused and neglected children that have been raped, neglected, beaten, and tortured by other means.
Details
Nontransparency in Child Protective Services (CPS) + Family Assessment vs. CPS investigation
Details
Read more below to follow the conversation
about the absence of transparency in
Child Protective Services
How Child Abuse Impacts Your Community
How Child Abuse Impacts Your Community
Without help, most badly traumatized/abused children become troubled youth leading lifetimes as dysfunctional adults.
Details
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.
Details
Minnesota Child Protection News May 2024 Share these articles with media contacts,
lawmakers and other changemakers. Change won’t come without you.
Details
KARA’s Google Ad Grant Initiative for CASA’s
The U.S. has 950 CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) organizations consisting of community volunteers trained as County Guardian ad Litems advocating for abused and neglected children in Court within Child Protection Services.
Details
Sign up HERE for KARA’S free Friday updates Support KARA Programs Here KARA Maintains this site with the hope that this information will compel you to share it with media contacts, lawmakers and other changemakers. change won’t come without you. KIDS AT RISK NONPROFIT EIN: 510570258 INVISIBLECHILDREN – KARA (KIDS AT RISK ACTION Who represents me in…
Details
New Child Fatalities Database (thank you Safe Passage for Children of MN)
Details