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Dec292012

Healing Through Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy (or, things I stole from the Surviving Spirit Website)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Mental Health + Over Medication

Our Story

The ideas, thoughts and dreams for The Surviving Spirit

The Surviving Spirit had its origins a long time ago in the mid-nineties. As a musician I had many unique opportunities to perform in different venues that would have a fair amount of folks in attendance who were dealing with the concerns of trauma, abuse, or mental health [mental illness]. These performances took place in peer support centers, psychiatric hospitals, day treatment centers, conferences, workshops, outdoor events, festivals, fairs, rallies, fundraising events and so much more. I was always blown away by the amount of people who not only shared parts of their difficult lives with me, but who also had these incredible gifts and creative talents — whether as an artist, musician, author, crafts person, photographer, author, writer, sculptor, poet, etc. Their listing of talents covers all styles and genres. Many others would also contact me through my website and send me information on their respective creative abilities.

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Nov242023

Have Governor Walz State Board members been mislead?

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, CASA, GAL and Child Protection, Child Protection, KARA News and Events, Reporting and News - MN Specific

Dear Reader,Allowing the State board to eliminate 10,000 future volunteers (over the next 40 years) at a time when we are reporting on children murdered by their parents may be an unfixable mistake costing even more children their lives.

Rebuttals to the State MAD report from several top child advocates here;

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Jul162019

Hard to Watch; Immigration & Children as Political Footballs

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Reporting and News - US Based

Dropping napalm on children and families in Vietnam (PBS video) was an unforgivable evil. Thousands of small children died by napalm.

Burned alive is the most painful death anyone can suffer. Survivors live with scars and trauma that never end.

Today, my government takes helpless babies & children from parents and places them in the custody of money driven defense contractors who warehouse them in cages at vacant shopping centers by the thousands.

The American Psychological Association condemns this act as needlessly cruel threatening “the mental and physical health of both the children and their caregivers”.

*Torturing immigrant children for political reasons is a vile act and it needs to be called out. *The World Health Organization defines torture as “extended exposure to violence and deprivation”.

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Nov282013

Hana’s Story

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Abuse and Deaths

Still, the Williams verdict has renewed calls for adoption reform in Washington—which to date seems to be the only state studying adoptee abuse. There is also talk of a federal bill to enhance post-adoption services for families and require better data collection on failed adoptions, and some adoption agencies, including the country’s largest, Bethany Christian Services, have called for action against rehoming. And a new website, Betaseb, is attempting to provide a place for older Ethiopian adoptees to talk with each other privately and learn about their rights.

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Feb12013

Guns and Children In Florida (it’s not guns that kill people) It’s Bad Laws About Guns

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Gun Violence and Control

In Florida it is against the law for a Pediatrician to ask a patient about guns in the house.

In 2010 almost 20,000 children were killed or wounded by firearms in America (A child is killed or wounded every thirty minutes) (Slate article Feb 1)

Simply explaining public health issues to parents seems like a natural function of the medical profession.

At Children’s Health of Ocala, Florida, Pediatrician, Dr. Okonkwo was asking routine public safety questions about swimming pools, bike helmets & loaded guns in the home of one of his patients.

Dr Okonkwo was right about locking ammunition and guns separately as a public health issue for children.

For this he could be accused of “unnecessarily harassing” the mother of his patient (the child).

Turns out, it is against Florida law to ask questions about gun ownership or ammunition in the entire state of Florida. The initial bill called for a five million dollar fine & five years in prison (for asking a Floridian if there was a gun in the home).

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Sep242017

Gun Violence & Children In Your State (8369) kids were killed or injured by gunfire in 2015)

All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Gun Violence and Control

This website tracks gun violence daily in the U.S.

It demonstrates a rising number of people shot each year with almost four thousand children and youth shot last year. As far as I know it is the first nonprofit / non political reporting venue on gun violence.

These past KARA articles cover children & guns in our neighborhoods

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