It Can’t Happen Here (Sally’s Story – Podcast)
the tragic story of Sally, an 8-year-old girl who suffered abuse by her biological father and her mother’s boyfriend, Joe
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Seeking Stories About Childhood Trauma
KARA’s next book will be the gathered wisdom from those of us with stories about child abuse, child protection, and childhood trauma. Do you have a story you want to tell?
We invite writers to submit original work of 300-400 words for consideration in our upcoming book, (working title), CHILD ABUSE IN THE MIRROR.
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Vulnerabilities in the Foster Care System (podcast)
In this episode of Kids at Risk Action, hosts Ashley and Alex discuss a heartbreaking case in which a 7-week-old infant suffered 13 fractures while in foster care, allegedly inflicted by the foster mother. This case highlights the systemic issues within the foster care system, including inadequate resources, lack of oversight, and insufficient training and support for foster parents.
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The End Of Child Protection
It also means that children growing up in toxic homes steeped in violence, abuse, and severe neglect are about to have the only chance they have of escaping life changing childhood trauma evaporate.
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Volunteer Opportunities
Episode # 30 Click Here For the Audio: What it’s like Being a CASA Child Advocate Summary: This is a short description of one Community CASA Guardian ad Litem’s experience being a child advocate in the Child Protection System. Do you have a passion for helping at-risk children and 3-5 hours / week to…
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Links to Facts and Happenings in Child Protection and Public Health
This is a snapshot of changes being made to the safety net for child protection, public health and education. Please take a few minutes and show your support for those programs and policies you know to be of value to the weakest and most vulnerable among us.
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The Critical Need for Child Advocacy Centers (podcast)
Kids at Risk Action, the hosts discuss the critical issue of funding cuts to Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) in Minnesota, which are essential in providing support for abused and neglected children. CACs offer services like forensic interviews, victim advocacy, and medical exams, but with the loss of 80% of their federal funding, these centers could be forced to close, leaving thousands of children without protection.
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National CASA Federal Funding Terminated – Share this with your lawmakers
National CASA Federal Funding Terminated
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Care Giver Retreat for MN Adoptive, Foster, & Kinship Caregivers
Join us for a retreat for Minnesota adoptive, foster, and kinship caregivers. This event offers a unique opportunity for caregivers to relax and renew while learning solution-based parenting
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Best and Worst Practices in Minnesota CPS (part 4 of 4)
Jessie Van Berkel wrote a very strong piece about the CASA Guardian ad Litem program in the Star Tribune recently. She brought attention to how a few bad decisions from new management can almost end a community volunteer institution at a time when it is most needed.
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Best and Worst Practices in Minnesota CPS (part 3 of 4)
If you ran an institution that found it hard to keep up with the demands being met in it you would most likely have only one or two choices to meet those demands. Find ways to do the work by simply making people do more with less, or, find more people to provide the service you have been mandated to provide.
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Best and Worst Practices in Minnesota CPS (part 2 of 4)
Imagine you ran an office full of Guardians ad Litem with different talents and these people worked hard to fix the problems of people with a wide range of complex problems.
It would be useful to allow your talented worker bees to select those cases that fit their requests and talents
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Because KARA calls on CASAs around the country, we have discovered Child Protection Policies that work along with things that don’t work and some practices that are harmful.
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Doing the Math in Child Protective Services (podcast)
Kids at Risk Action, Michael and John examine the staggering costs and human impact of child protective services (CPS) and the interconnected child welfare and juvenile justice systems. They highlight troubling statistics, such as the high number of children reported to CPS each year, the underreporting of abuse, and the alarming link between CPS involvement and later incarceration.
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77 Years of Child Abuse (podcast)
Kids at Risk Action, Katie and Jenna explore the deep, lasting effects of childhood trauma through the lens of a survivor’s 77-year journey. They discuss how childhood abuse, often unrecognized, rewires the brain and shapes a lifetime of emotional struggles, relationships, and self-worth issues.
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Share these MN Child Friendly Bills With Your State Rep
MN State Legislative session runs through May 19, 2025.
Be a voice for an at-risk child that has no voice and share these Child friendly bills with your state representative. Email them the bill link and a note about why this is important to you. Find your State Rep HERE
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Be a Voice for MN Children at the Capital April 1 and 7
APRIL IS NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH-Register for Child Advocacy Events on April 1 and 7 with Safe Passage for Children Day at the Capitol here.
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Hidden Crisis of Child Abuse and Trauma During the COVID Lockdown KARA Podcast
Jamie and Alex explore the hidden crisis of child abuse and trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic. They discuss how lockdowns led to a dramatic drop in abuse reports, not because abuse decreased, but because children were isolated and unable to ask for help. With a rise in severe abuse cases and emotional trauma,
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Be a Voice for MN Children at the Capital in April
APRIL IS NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH-Register for Child Advocacy Events on April 1 and 7 with Safe Passage for Children Day at the Capitol here.
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No More Punishment Please
Finally removed from the home forever, but not healed. The invisible scars we carry remain.
Life with our painful childhood memories, triggered behaviors and habits in this world is terribly difficult to manage.
Healing from a broken past is difficult.
No more punishment please.
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Ethan’s Story
Ethan was removed from his parents at a young age. I have only come to know him briefly through the course of my work with him at an inpatient facility.
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What Happened To Portia?
Portia died shortly after being brought into the operating room. Leroy called me early in the morning and told me that the surgery had been delayed too long. There was no way the doctors could save her at that point.
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The Beatings Will Continue
Yanelin Montalvo-Valdez (yesterday Star Tribune) personifies the pain and punishment heaped upon the 50 innocent children I advocated for as a CASA Guardian ad Litem volunteer
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Parental Drug Use Killing Children in Pennsylvania at High Rates (investigative report)
KARA follows investigative reporting on child death and near death by caregivers while the children are known to CPS (Child Protective Services). Please send us links to the reports in your state and we will make them available to a larger audience.Parental Drug Use Killing Children in Pennsylvania at High Rates (investigative report)
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(CASA Guardian ad Litem) Be a Voice For Abused Children Where You Live
Spotify Episode # 30 Click Here For the Audio: What it’s like Being a CASA Child Advocate Summary: This is a short description of one Community CASA Guardian ad Litem’s experience being a child advocate in the Child Protection System.
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There Is No Constituency For Abused & Neglected Children
how 13 Minnesota Child Advocacy Centers (CAC’s) are losing 80% of their Federal funding. If this happens they will likely disappear or become a shell of what they were in a very short time.
CAC’s keep safe and provide services to children and families who have reported abuse and provide services to help them live through and recover from child abuse, domestic violence, and the traumas that come from it.
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Child Death and Public Non Disclosure (thank you Marie Cohen)
Much of this article is taken from Marie Cohen’s remarkable research at the American Enterprise Institute. For those of you concerned with Child Protective Services in your community, Marie’s article is detailed and powerful. It could change your State Representative’s mind about transparency in CPS (Child Protective Services) where you live (share this state rep…
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77 Years of Child Abuse
These are the insights of a 77-year-old victim of childhood abuse. He was not aware of the root cause which dominated his life until he was 65 years-old and ran across references to resilience and child abuse. Bill is a thoughtful, deep thinker. The following observations result from his reflection on his life.
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200 Child Deaths In CPS Deserve To Be Recorded In CPS
Before this report, no one knew how many children in CPS were dying or how they died. Chances are the number of children murdered at the hands of their caregivers is much larger than the 200 listed in the report.
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The War On Fosters
Why do so many fosters aging out of care struggling in school, becoming homeless, addicted, have criminal records and unable to hold down a job?
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Reckless & ill-Advised Public Policy For Endangered Children
Reckless & ill-Advised Public Policy For Endangered Children
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Tip of Children’s Mental Health Iceberg
For emergency room doctors, they are a sad and familiar sight: Children returning again and again in the grip of mental health crises
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2025 – A Happier New Year For At Risk Children
2025 – A Happier New Year For At Risk Children
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The Ghost of Christmas Past (the value of healthy children)
In 2003, MN Federal Reserve Board Director Art Rolnick & Economist Rob Grunewald completed a study demonstrating that early childhood programs returned the best financial investment a government could make to build healthy children and productive citizens
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Suicide, Child Abuse and Christmas
Many foster youth and abused and neglected children in toxic homes suffer especially during the holidays. There is no joy in being removed from your birth home or to continue living in a birth home with broken parents and the behaviors that come with abusive caregivers.
About 25% of the children and young adults in California foster care have attempted suicide. 41% of LGBTQ kids seriously thought of killing themselves last year.
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Thank You & Happy Holidays
Dear Reader, As the year comes to a close, we want to thank you for following our Saturday INVISIBLE CHILDREN updates. Your readership is helping KARA spread awareness of child abuse and trauma, and the work that needs to be done to save and heal at-risk children. KARA relies on the generosity of our…
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Management Not Fit For Purpose
a unique perspective of what happened to Minnesota’s CASA Guardian ad Litem program over the last 4 years.
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Child Abuse Sad Stories (4 days in November)
37% of children overall and 44% of Black children are reported to child protection services in America
by the time they turn 18. (American Journal of Public Health 1.17)
7.8 million children a year are reported to child protection services.
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Fosters, Grandparents & Thanksgiving Hunger
This Thanksgiving, over 13 million American children are living with their grandparents (four times what this it was in 1970).
It is estimated that for every child in foster care with relatives, there are 20 living outside of care with relatives (usually grandparents).
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Budget Surplus Fund For Children (how to make a Christmas Miracle)
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.
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Why Children Need Mandated Reporters
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…
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Realities of Mandated Reporting (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.
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COVIDs Impact on CPS, CASA volunteers, & Guardian ad Litem Staff
COVIDs Impact on CPS, CASA volunteers, & Guardian ad Litem Staff
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Making CPS Work For Everyone part 1
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.
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If I Only Had a Brain
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.
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Child Abuse Investigations & Reforms
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…
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